Eat

Belgium is famous for its good cuisine and Belgians like to go to restaurants frequently. However as a small country in the centre of western Europe, the cuisine is influenced not only by the surrounding countries, but also by many others. This is also emphasized by many foreigners coming to this country to make a living here, for instance by starting a restaurant.

Restaurants

• French/Belgian: A traditional Belgian restaurant serves the kind of food you will also find in the best French restaurants. Of course there are local differences: at the coast (in France as well as in Belgium) you have a better chance to find some good seafood, like mussels, turbot, sole or the famous North Sea shrimps. In the southern woods of the Ardennes (remember the battle of the Bulge?), you are better off choosing game or local fish like trout.
• English/German/Dutch: You won't find them in Belgium.
• American: There are McDonald's or look-alikes in every town. The Belgian variant is called "Quick". You may also find a local booth serving sausages, hot dogs or hamburgers. Try it: the meat tastes the same, but the bread is much better. And what about real American restaurants? See the previous chapter.
• Mexican: Only in the cities and rather costly for medium quality.
• Chinese: They have a long tradition of restaurants in Belgium. Rather cheap, but for an acceptable level of quality.
• Greek/Spanish/Italian: Like all over the world, nice, rather cheap, with a good atmosphere and typical music (Greek: Choose meat, especially lamb) (Spanish: Choose paella and tapas) (Italian: Choose anything).
• Japanese/Thai: You usually only find them in the cities and they are rather expensive. But they give you great quality.
• Arabic/Turkish/Moroccan: Rather cheap, with a variety of local dishes, especially with lamb, no fish or pork or beef.
• And many, many others! Belgium offers a wide selection of international restaurants.

General rules:

• Belgium is a country which understands what eating is all about, and can be a real gastronomic paradise. You can have a decent meal in about every tavern, from small snacks to a complete dinner. Just pop into one of those and enjoy it. You really are going to ask, why isn't this possible in other countries?
• If you want to eat really well for not too much money, ask the local people or the hotel manager (that is, supposing he does not have a brother restaurant-manager) to give some advice for a good restaurant.
• There is a price for everything: expensive food like lobster or turbot will always cost a lot of money at any restaurant. But you can also find some local and simple dishes, rather cheap and still very tasty (e.g. sausages, potatoes and spinach).
• A number of dishes are considered distinctly Belgian specialities and should be on every visitor's agenda.
• Mussels are a firm favorite and a snack of mosselen met friet (mussels and fries) are to Belgium what fish and chips are to England. The traditional way is to cook them in a pot with white wine, then eat them up using only a mussel shell to scoop them out. The top season is September to April, and as with all shellfish it's best not to eat the closed ones. Belgium's mussels always come from nearby Holland. Imports from other countries are looked down at.
• Despite the name, French fries (friet in Dutch, frites in French) are proudly claimed as a Belgian invention. Whether or not this is true, they certainly have perfected it, although not everybody agrees with their choice of mayonnaise over ketchup as the preferred condiment. Every village has at least one fritkot/friterie, an establishment selling cheap take-away fries, with a choice of sauces and fried meat to go with them.
• Waffles (wafels in Dutch, gaufres in French) come in two types: a light and airy variety that Americans are more familiar with, or a heavier variety with a gooey center known as Luikse wafels. They can be found at stands on the streets of the cities.
• Last but not least, Belgian chocolate is famed around the world. Famous chocolatiers include Godiva, Leonidas, Guylian and Neuhaus, but arguably the best stuff can be found at tiny boutiques in the Flemish cities, too small to build worldwide brands.

Drink

Imagine you've only been drinking red and yellow lemonade with a bit of alcohol thrown in all your life, and then suddenly you are introduced to the best varieties of wine available. This is what it can be like for people from countries like the US or other ones which mostly have industrial production blond lagers on offer, who then come to Belgium and are introduced to what is arguably the richest beer culture on the planet.

Beer

Like other European countries in medieval times, beers were brewed in a huge variety of ways with many different ingredients, apart from the standard water, malted barley, hops and yeast many herbs and spices were used. This activity was often done by monasteries, each developing its particular sort. For some reason uniquely in Belgium many of these monasteries survived almost into modern times, and the process was handed over to a local commercial brewer if the monastery closed. These brewers would often augment the recipe and process slightly to soften the taste to make it more marketable but the variety survived in this way. These beers are called Abbey beers and there are hundreds and hundreds with a range of complex tastes unimaginable until you've tried them.

Less than 10 of the original monasteries still make beer, this according to traditional methods going back to the Middle Ages. These monasteries make Trappist ales and in order to carry this badge of honour the monastery has to abide to strict rules regarding only using the best natural ingredients and only traditional, non-mechanised brewing processes. These amazingly rich and complex beers are truly artisanal products in that sense, and can confidently be considered the best in the world.

Belgium offers an incredible diversity of beers. The most well known mass-produced ones are Stella Artois, Duvel (literally: the Devil, beware, 8.5%!), Leffe, Jupiler (plain standard beer), Hoegaarden (white beer). The names given to some beers are pretty imaginative: eg Verboden Vrucht (Forbidden Fruit), Judas, Delirium Tremens. Warmly recommended are also Kriek (sweet or sour cherry beer) and, for the christmas season, Stille Nacht (Silent night)

* Belgium is the home of over 400 varieties of beer. It is said that there is always a party happening in Belgium. Many a night is spent in absence of sleep, traded for jazz festivals, rock concerts, pub-hopping, and gambling at casinos. Brussels houses over 80 pubs alone! You can definitely become an avid beer drinker in Belgium; not to mention the waffles and chocolates.

All content courtesy of Wikitravel