Special Movember: 8 Belgians who adopted the stach

For some reason, people tend to always picture Belgians (and also Frenchmen) with a moustache. It is definitely not a typically Belgian feature and, although some hipsters tend to get one "ironically" nowadays, it is not very popular here... Yet this months, you will probably see a bit more people with it because of "Movember", a charity event in which men grow moustaches in November to remind others of cancers and other health issues. As a support for this event, I have made a list of famous people or characters from Belgium who usually wear a stach, a good way to know more about our culture.

1) Hercule Poirot: Like a sir



Fictional private detective and Agatha Christie's main character, probably inspired of Belgian immigrants in the UK, he always solves intricate criminal affairs with a Belgian phlegm(!)

2) Anthony Van Dyck: The creator



Famous 17th-century Flemish Baroque painter, he also invented an eponymous type of beard-stach, which you can see on all of his self-portraits.

3) Bert Kruismans: The caustic bilingual

 

Flemish stand-up comedian, also popular on tv-channels of the whole country, he has performed in both national languages and loves to describe the splendid weirdnesses of Belgium

4) Grand/Lange Jojo: The singing grandpa



Funny old-fashioned singer from Brussels, he is often considered as a symbol of Belgian identity and he is famous for popular tracks like the drinking song "On a soif" (We are thirsty).

5) Balthasar Boma: Mr Tournée Générale



Fictive character from popular Flemish sitcom F.C. De Kampioenen, telling the story of a local football club, he is that old fashioned company owner who has the worst pick-up lines and keeps mixing French and Dutch all the time: one of his catch phrases is "Tournée générale!", meaning "It's my round!".

6) Thomson & Thompson: The slapstick policemen



The clumsy police twins are part of the comic book Tintin, and until the 80s, the stach was a popular trend among policemen in Belgium (didn't it even use to be part of the uniform?), which is not the case anymore, unfortunately for those who have this as a fantasy!

7) Olivier Deleuze: The green stach



Co-president of ECOLO, a francophone green party, and also the first mayor from this party in the Brussels region, he is from the multicultural commune of St-Josse-ten-Noode.

8) Bent van Looy: The indie boy



Lead singer of Das Pop and drummer of Soulwax, the thirty-something has also designed his own clothing and is now jury in the Flemish version of The Voice.

Any other idea? Send it in a comment!

Best Belgian beers awarded at international contest

Have you already made up your mind on what your favourite belgian beer is? If not, you should check out the winner list of the European Beer Star Awards 2014! Last Wednesday, the 11th edition of the contest took place in Nurenberg. It awarded "somewhat special, authentic beers" from all over the world and... 8 Belgian beers got a medal!

The three Golden Medals: Maes pils, Oud Kriek Oud Beersel and Car d'Or

The competition took a more specific turn in that all beers were classified in no less than 52 categories to make sure everyone would find their own favourite (read the whole list here). Three Belgian beers were proudly awarded a Golden medal (see image above): Maes pils as a "European-Style Mild Lager", Oud Kriek Oud Beersel as a "Belgian-Style Fruit Sour Ale" and Car d'Or (Saint-Feuillien) as a "Belgian-Style Ale", the only Walloon beer that received a medal.

Besides, two Belgian beers were awarded a Silver medal: Brasserie LeFort, as a "Belgian-Style Strong Ale" and Bersalis Tripel as a "Belgian-Style Tripel", and three received a Bronze medal: Affligem Blond as a "Belgian-Style Strong Ale", Hoegaarden White as a "Belgian-Style Witbier" and finally RODENBACH Vintage as a "Belgian-Style Sour Ale".

Eight medals in an international beer competition... expectable in a country where the beer is national pride and most of the beer categories are "Belgian-style"?... Not that much, because US and Germany are the ones that received the largest number of awards... maybe because Belgian beers are not famous enough? Anyway, it didn't stop the country for winning the World Beer Awards 2014 in September with its Tongerlo Blond!

Any idea what your favourite one is? A good way is to try them and tell us in a comment! (You can try the analcoholic versions of them if you prefer... ;) )

A new name for the province of Antwerp?

Today, an idea surprised all newspapers readers! The parties of the federal majority in Flanders (N-VA, CD&V and Open VLD) suggested a change in the name of the Antwerp province (called after its capital city)... into "Central Brabant" (Midden-Brabant in Dutch)!

Why "Central Brabant" and not "Northern Brabant"? Actually, there is already a Northern Brabant in the Netherlands, constituting the Northern part of a former Duchy of Brabant, which also included a Middle (Antwerp province) and a Southern Brabant (Flemish and Walloon Brabants... and Brussels). Some people see this name change as a good idea to boost collaboration between the Dutch and Flemish Brabants. These regions share the same dialect group called Brabantian (which today seems to be used in media as a sort of standard Flemish dialect)...

What it would look like if they changed the name of the Antwerp province

Anyway, the suggestion was made because there is too much confusion between the city and the province of Antwerp. People don't seem to identify clearly with its capital, a big city with a powerful identity, which takes all the attention in the province, while people from Kempen, Rupel, Mechelen, etc. apparently don't feel very "Antwerpian". By contrast, East Flanders is already not called after its capital Ghent, and people in some part of the province don't identify themselves to it either. Ultimately, a reason for the change in name is because the three parties wish to give big cities such as Antwerp and Ghent more autonomy from their province.

The news caused an uproar on the web and some people think it is part of a series of pointless changes from a goverment that wants to ultimately separate Belgium in two countries. Others see it as a way to encourage a re-annexation of Flanders to the Netherlands, as was the larger Brabant territory. Well, there is also a Dutch and a Flemish Limburg, but... I don't think it can happen, because Flemish nationalists are usually proud of their region and very few actually see it as a part of the Netherlands. A lot more think this name change doesn't really "change" anything, but it would have a cost and there are more important matters (especially economical ones) to be debated now. Liège and Namur are also both city names and province ones, and they're pretty confusing too, but it doesn't seem to matter to anyone...

The idea was already provided by far-right party Vlaams Belang in 2008, but didn't go further on. It will have to wait until 2019 for the legislative elections, because you need to change the Belgian constitution in order to achieve it...

Item of the Week: Tchantchès marionette

The (double) item of this week consists of two famous puppets from Liège: Tchantchès and Nanesse... They are a must-see if you want to understand the culture of the city. The two characters are usually encountered as marionettes or giant puppets carried by people at folk parades. People in Liège love them and probably every kid in Liège has already enjoyed a marionette play in the Outremeuse district. Tchantchès symbolises the typical Liège chap, but nobody is really sure of what his name means. Some say Tchantchès is a diminutive of Françwès, i.e. "Francis" in Walloon dialect, but others prefer to see it as an ancient diminutive Djan (John) via Dutch "Jantje" (little John).

Tchantchès is a legendary character who is said to be born in Outremeuse, a district of Liège in the middle Ages. The name "Outremeuse" means that if you come from the centre of Liège and the district is "beyond the Meuse (river)". In his stories, he is a close friend of Charles the Great and always defends him against enemies in big battles. His favourite way of fighting is by head butting his opponent. He is the representation of the traditional personality of Liège people, because he is said to be impertinent, courageous and loyal to his friends. Finally, his big red nose gives away that he is a big lover of pèkèt, the local jenever drink.

Tchantchès, Nanesse and Charles the Great

 

Represented with a red scarf around the neck, a black cap, and a blue work coat, Tchantchès wears the typical working-class outfit from the end of the 19th century, and it is believed that it was the time when the puppet was invented in a local theatre. He also has a wife, Nanesse (Agnes in English), a basket carrier, who, although being full of integrity and a gentle character, is also strong and strict to her husband and likes hitting him with a frying pan when she gets angry. 

A parade in Liège with the giant puppets

 

Today, Tchantchès and Nanesse are famous for their puppets (or marionettes), which appear whether in theatres or as giants for a parade every year on 15th August in Outremeuse. The marionettes are particular in that they are made of around 8-10 pieces of wood, iron strings and cloth. The scenarios of the plays were usually written during the 19th century and re-enact medieval "chansons de geste". Only one rod is used to manipulate the puppet, which only allows limited and awkward body moves. This gives a funny touch to the plays, especially when characters are fighting. The play is ideal for younger kids, because the puppets discuss and interact with the audience, make jokes and ask them for advices... All I can say is kids love it and I loved it as a kid.

Item of the Week: Mitraillette

Let's talk about food again for the item of the week... A small notice: this item is not the kind of cuisine I would recommend for a healthy lifestyle, so don't abuse it. It is called a mitraillette [me-try-IT!], meaning a "sub-machine gun" in French!

Mitraillettes can be found all over the country in a place called friterie or frituur, where fries are traditionally sold in a small bar or a van (a bit like fish'n'chips places in the UK), but also in restaurants and cafés sometimes. You can also find them in the region of Lille in France, where people share with us the same fries culture. In my city, Liège, the dish can also be called a routier ("truck driver" or "road (dish)" depending on the interpretations) and in France they call it an Américain!

The sandwich, consisting of half of a baguette, some fried meat (for example, fricadelle), some sauce (mayonnaise, etc.) and... lots of fries(!), is a revolution. An American friend once said "Who would have thought of putting all these things together... in a bread? The Belgians of course!"

I personally don't like eating it too often, but I gave it a try several times, because I was really, really hungry. Sometimes there are different sizes of sandwiches, so I would advise you to start with a small one or share a regular one with other people... In fact, the taste is not very surprising and not that different from eating fries and a hot dog separately... I can add that there are usually so many fries you use a small plastic fork to eat a whole bunch of them just because you feel frustrated of not being able to put the whole sandwich in your mouth.


I don't know why this fries sandwich emerged here and became so popular... Well, on further reflection, I remember that, as a kid, I always put some fries in my hamburger, so maybe it came naturally to us... But now there are even mitraillette versions of dürüms in kebab bars, or mitraillette burgers in some famous fast food lines! Let's say that all kinds of food got "machine-gunned" with fries in Belgium...

What is your experience of mitraillette? Share it in a comment!

Item of the Week: Sirop de Liège

I got the idea to launch a new section in this blog: the Item of the Week, where I will introduce you to a typical Belgian object and I will (try to) do it every week. This week, a light-blue pot you can get in any supermarket in Belgium and it comes from my city... Liège!

 

Le Sirop de Liège (or Liège syrup) is made of evaporated fruit juices, mostly apple and pear ones, and is a traditional spread from the province of Liège (mostly the city of Herve). It is dark-brown and has a sort of unexpected taste. Unlike peanut butter or nutella, you wouldn't like to put it on a spoon and eat it like that, but rather on bread at least. Personally, I love it on white cheese in a sandwich, because it gives all the sweet taste, without being too sugary.

More importantly, it is also used in the preparation of the Boulet à la Liégeoise, one of the most famous (Liège waffle excluded...) dishes of the province. We use it to make the sauce (mixed with fruits and onions) which will accompany pork-beaf meatballs and fries. After it, you will feel filled up!

After talking to Dutch people, I realised they had the same kind of spread, which they call Appelstroop (Apple Syrup), but it is not quite the same, because they don't use any pear juice in it.

When Belgium was part of France...

It's history class today and you're going to learn a bit on what Belgian territories used to be. I will only talk about the period between 1790 and 1814, with the creation of the United Belgian States and the subsequent annexation to France... with the creation of Belgian departments with strange names, though shaping the current Belgian provinces. You will also get hints on how Walloons are not "that" French and... actually not that Walloon either!

When some people claim that Wallonia should be a French region simply because it was once part of France, they're referring to a short period from 1792 to 1814, in which the current territory of Belgium was included in the French Republic and, subsequently, the French Empire. As a counter-argument to this, let's say Wallonia is as French as... Flanders! And even sections of the Netherlands and Germany were also French at that time for the same duration... So is this argument really valid?

Map of the former French departments on the Belgian territory

During the French period, it is interesting to see how the regional limits were formed and how similar they look to the current ones. As France was (and is still) divided into smaller departments for each region, Belgium was constituted with nine departments: Lys (Western Flanders), Escaut (Eastern Flanders), Deux-Nèthes (Antwerp), Meuse Inférieure (Limburg), Dyle (Flemish/Walloon Brabants and Brussels), Jemappes (Hainaut), Sambre-et-Meuse (Namur), Ourthe (Liège) and Forêts (Luxembourg). Those were called after rivers and streams, except the current Luxembourg, which was then called after its... forests (Forêts), original huh?... (And today, some call it Wallabama...)

United Belgian States before French annexation

Before this period, Belgium consisted mostly of the so-called "United Belgian States" in 1790, which did not actually include Liège, a principality on its own... Therefore, during the French period, there was not really an distinction between Flemish and Walloons, but there was one between Belgians and Liégeois! And it is only when the territories were given to the Dutch that Liégeois considered themselves as Belgians (and Catholics), by opposition to the Dutch who ruled the big Netherlands and were Protestants. Still today, Liégeois are known to use a different accent to the rest of Wallonia...

As you can see on the map, Flanders used to only be the name of a smaller territory that included Ghent and Bruges (Western and Eastern Flanders provinces), and not Brabant and Limburg... For some reason, the name Flanders was also used for the whole Dutch-speaking region, while the French-speaking region was called after a local language (Walloon). Before this separation existed, French was the only official language of the country. This shows that Wallonia and Flanders have not always been homogeneous entities but are a recent way to separate the country linguistically invented during the last century.

Miles away from the "States" (of America), these Belgian States did not last more than 5 years and played more the go-between for the former Austrian Netherlands and the future French departments, which became Dutch later on... A complicated story, which cannot be summed up as "Wallonia is French" and "Flanders is Dutch".