The Food is Better. It Really Is.

Food is better here. I am not saying that great food is not available in the US. Of course it is. There are great restaurants and artisanal producers of extremely fine food products throughout the US. But as whole, the quality of the food here is better. In our home in the suburbs of Washington DC, we had to drive an hour to find anything approximating fresh fish. We had Hedgeapple farms (http://hedgeapplefarm.com/) close by with their wonderful grass fed beef. But you had pay for that level of quality. It could not be an every day thing. The local groceries stores were at best uninspiring and at worst had food that was obviously past its prime. It is different here. Even the small Carrefour expresses that are everywhere in the Brussels area have a small variety of high quality food. If you are willing to take some time however, you can find amazing quality produce, meat and fish at various local butcher shops, produce shops and bakeries. We are willing to sacrifice quality for convenience in the US in a way that is simply unacceptable here. This goes for the restaurants as well. In the town we live in, there are several small pubs and tea rooms with simple, but very high quality food. What we do not have is a Mc Donalds or any other fast food chain. Every restaurant is a sole proprietorship and it shows. And I am not even going to mention the fries. (It’s true, they are better. They are fried in animal fat, which is always a good thing.)

I do miss some things about US food already however. First and foremost, is good Mexican food. There are a few “Mexican” restaurants here. Chi Chi’s being notable for their footprint in Brussels. Short story, it is not Mexican. Not even close. I also miss good Bar B Que. Something I hope to correct as soon as the weather starts to warm up. I also miss bourbon. You can get Jack Daniels here, but that is about it. And as they will tell you, Jack is Tennessee whiskey and not bourbon.

I am sure that as the shine wears off, we will start to see the flaws and begin to have issues. But I have to say, the difference in the food is really striking when you live here. When traveling through an area as I have for the last 15 years, you eat in restaurants or food stands. You do not shop and your experience is not typical. Live in a place, shop in their stores and eat where the locals eat and your experience is different. In our case, it is better.