Do as the Flemish do

One of the greatest pleasures about moving to a new place is learning about it through lots of eating and drinking. Visions of waffles dripping in chocolate, fries dripping in mayonaise, and French-accented chefs with voices dripping in sarcasm disappeared soon after my arrival when I found out that....

Belgium has.... Food Lion?

Check out the bag, I'm not lying. After a little research (er...wikipedia) I learned that Del is Flemish for "food" and Haize is Flemish for "lion."

OK, what I really learned was that Food Lion is actually owned by Belgians! Also, they own another grocery store in the US with the unfortunate name of "Bottom Dollar Food." Ick.

The difference between Food Lion in Belgium and Food Lion in the US is that here they have non-scary produce, a decent wine selection, and a much smaller proportion of crazy people wandering around the aisles. Also, it is easily navigable even after you decide to sample Belgian beer and jenever at 3 in the afternoon (possibly making me count as one of the crazy people wandering around the aisles). For the uninitiated, jenever is the local juniper-flavored liquor, but you can also find it in many other creamy or fruity flavors.

After the shock of the few American chains that I saw in Antwerp (they have Ben & Jerry's and Urban Outfitters too) I decided I needed some fries, stat!

My future roommate Petra and I went to a place a local had told us had the Best Fries In Antwerp. The name of the place was Best Fries (creative, guys). There were many imitators who were clearly trying to fool us (#1 fries, McDonald's next door) but we found it because of the huge line of people getting their fry fix. Best Fries takes its work seriously: it is known for having Fry Inspectors who regularly test the oil and the fryer to make sure they are up to standard. Yes, I forced myself to put mayo on my fries to fit in with the locals, and it was actually pretty good.

I would write more, but think it's time for my waffle. Daag!