THE TEST : Belgium is ( too ) expensive!

 It is a warm, moody early Saturday afternoon in August. While I am drafting my electricity scheme in view of the imminent sale of my house I get hungry. Given the time of the day and it being a Saturday, my lunch options in my area of Brussels are limited. I already had my lebanese falafal salad yesterday and it might be wise to go 'cheap' on food. I decide to walk to Delhaize ( also known as the Food Lion in the US ) to pick up the ingredients for lunch.

 From a culinary point of view I make a good Belgian. Lunch is going to be my all-time favorite

' Tomates - Crevettes'. 

Crevettes are the typical grey North Sea shrimp and can obviously only be found in the North Sea.


The 'crevettes' I buy in Delhaize are even BELGIAN. I am curious to see how and why these small creatures are Belgian. Do they only swim in Belgian waters?

The label poetically reads : " These shrimp have a typical fine taste because of their specific area of capture and the traditional Belgian cooking method". Gosh, I never knew there was someting like a 'typical Belgian cooking method for shrimp'. I am again a day wiser.

I buy

100 g of shrimp                                                                         5, 25 €    =   6, 8 $  

125 g of freshly washed salad mixture MESCLUN                 2, 49  €   =   3, 3 $ 

500 g of gorgeous cherries imported directly from the US       6, 99  €    =   9, 1 $  

a small jar of carrots and small peas                                         1, 69  €    =  2, 2 $
450 g of in season bio tomatoes                                             2, 29  €   =  3 $

250 g of dried figs                                                                    4,19   €    =  5, 50 €

I eat half of the cherries by the time my egg is hardboiled, I will only need one tomato ( 40 eurocent of 50 dollarcent ), and the figs I keep for breakfast.
Without the compulsary french fries and the beer I can no longer have because of its gluten content, that is still a fair 12€ ( 15 $ ). For Argentinians, that would be the equivalent of 168 pesos. BRRR, way too much.

I could have done this otherwise. The city center is 20 minutes on my bike away, and in the center I know of a delicious burger place.

The                                  Classic Burger

there goes for 8,5 €. I love it rare and with a glass of cava or red wine . I could have eaten at Ellis Gourmet Burger for the same price or even less. I could have enjoyed the view of Saint Catherine's square with its Saturday morning market, reading a newspaper or be accompanied in stead.

My salad, hurriedly put together, didn't even taste that good. I skipped the unseeding the tomatoes, quickly chopped one into small pieces in stead. I could or should have nicely arranged my salad on a plate but decided to mix the salad, the chopped tomatoes, the peas & carrots, the egg and the shrimp together with some mayonaise into an undeep bowl.

I ate too fast and barely stilled my hunger.

So what have I learned today? Don't buy at Delhaize, it is too expensive. Call a friend and meet outside for lunch. Enjoy the Summer while it lasts.

Trust me, once this horrible electricity scheme is done and over with, that's what I promise my self to do.