A Home-Cooked Meal Far From Home

Hi, my name is Megan S., and I'm one of the participants on the World Government trip in Belgium, and today's guest blogger. 

Yesterday evening, we were given the opportunity to visit the home of two local women who had prepared a home-cooked, multi-course meal for us, composed of traditional Belgian dishes. By far, it was the best meal I've had on this trip. Upon our arrival, we were greeted with the Belgian bise, a single kiss on the cheek, and we then made our way up the steep, tiny staircase, an architectural feature that's common to many of the tall and narrow buildings of Brussels. 

Our first dish was a green mystery soup -- in fact, everything we tried was a "mystery" in the sense that we weren't informed of the ingredients until after we had taken the first bite, as to encourage an open mind about foods that might not be familiar to us. After everyone having reached a positive consensus about the soup, our hosts revealed that it was made out of radish -- and not  just the central, red part of the vegetable that's typically seen in food, but also the leafy green stems.

Next was a brown paste smeared on to a slice of bread. Everyone was pretty surprised when it was announced that the paste was actually raw minced beef -- definitely not something I would've tried at home, but I'm glad I did! 

In between bites, we talked amongst our tables and admired the last rays of sun filtering across the courtyard and onto the flowerbeds sitting on the windowsill. At my table, the escargot sparked an amusing, and slightly disgusting, conversation about the most obscure foods we've ever tried -- cow tongue and fried chicken feet made the list! The atmosphere was elegant, but relaxed, and fostered the formaton of comfortable connections over delicious food. 

This meal was a great way for the group to bond over getting an authentic taste of Belgian culture. There are certain things about a culture that a museum tour can't teach you, but this meal gave us a valuable insight into the lives of locals. As someone who has been functioning primarily as a tourist in this city, it was wonderful to feel like a local, even if just for a night. Some of the more acquired tastes can be hard to swallow - literally - but it was the genuine desire to build new cultural understandings and experiences that pushed us to expand our culinary horizons .