Comments by "Lynott Parris" (@DenUitvreter) on "American Reacts to the 10 Belgian Foods You MUST Try in Brussels" video.
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Very telling about Belgian cuisine is that their star products are actually Dutch. The 'Zeeuwse mosselen' are from the Zealand province of the Netherlands and are the best in the world, but it's Belgians that appreciate them fully. I'm sure that if the French or the Thai had mussels like that, they wouldn't use cream or coconut cream sauces becaue it's weakens the tast, which is very much like the concentrated smell of the North Sea.
The Fries are made from Bintjes, a Dutch very tasty breed, but the Dutch simply don't care enough and use a potato that is easier to breed and peel, and don't bother with double frying and use vegetable oil. Many Flemish do the latter too lately, which is a shame. That's why I prefer Walloon fries, often 1 or 2 mm thicker also, over Flemish fries. Dutch mayo certainly doesn't qualify as the 'queen of sauces' like in Belgium. Which also knows lobsters with mayonaise, and lobster is and was an expensive and fancy food in this part of Europe.
The chocolate also originates in the Netherlands, which still has very good chocolate. But the Belgians take to another level by combining it with other tastes and make little pieces of art out of it.
They just take care, they love the simple things, don't use particularly fancy or expensive products but put in a lot of attention and effort. That's probably why Belgium excells in my view in relatively simple bistro food. Stews, steak frites, shrimp croquettes, things like that. Not that there aren't very good fancy restaurants in Belgium, especially Brussels with all that EU folk, but that's not Belgium's specialty.
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