Food

Belgium is most obviously known for it's delicious chocolate. Each year Belgium exports tons of chocolate around the world. It truely is wonderful chocolate, and if you haven't tried it, you should. (Twix bars are my favorite candy of almost all time, and they taste even better in Belgium. Maybe it's the Belgian chocolate, I don't know, but they really are amazing.) There are also Belgian waffles. Now, before I came here, everyone told me to try some belgian waffles, and I always thought it was a joke. I didn't think somewhere could actually be known for waffles. However, Belgium is in fact known for their delicious waffles. American-Belgian waffles are just not the same. These you will actually have to travel to try. There is simply none other. Beer is also a big thing, but I haven't tried it, so I can't comment on it.

Now for everyday food. Each morning when i wake up for school, I go downstairs to find the table filled with an array of things to put on bread. (Bread is truely a staple in the Belgian diet.) There are different jams, cheeses, butter, peanut butter (from my kitchen at home), nutella, and sometimes other things. Depending on the type of bread that morning, I decide between the cheese, butter, or nutella. And some mornings, like this morning, I eat an apple with peanut butter. Peanut butter, I've come to find, is very much an American food. Most people outside of the US don't like peanut butter. However, my family does.

This morning I was sitting at breakfast with my host sister, and I was eating my apple and peanut butter just like I would normally, and I look up and she's looking at me strangely. So, naturally, I ask her if she wants to try. And hestitantly she puts some peanut butter on her apple slice puts in it her mouth. Surprisingly, she liked it. I was actually surprised too.

My host dad, makes us lunch every morning (a sandwich) for us to take to school, and we have the option to also buy lunch in the city and so forth, which is also a sandwich. They're all delicious, so I usually just take the ones we get from home.

When we get home from school we can eat some bread or fruit as a snack before dinner. For dinner we eat a wide variety of foods. Some pictures are below. The dessert, bottom right, is filled with ice cream and topped with melted chocolate. Messy, yes, delicious, YES!

All in all, the food here is quite amazing and fresh. American food does not even compare, although there are a few things I miss. For instance, my white rice that I ate at least 3 times a week and my crisp, salty potato chips. Yumm.