Growing every year, the event now boasts about 1,200 events and initiatives throughout Flanders and Brussels. Following Leuven last year, Aalst is 2010's special guest Stad van de Smaak, or City of Taste. Known for its onions and its annual carnival, the city will bring its expertise in the latter (and perhaps also a little bit of the former) to a massive programme of events.
Spain is this year's Land van de Smaak (Guest Country), providing accents of Rioja and seafood, tapas and Serrano to the goings-on across the regions.
The peter, or godfather, of the Week van de Smaak this year is Wouter Keersmaekers (pictured above), the Michelin-starred chef of De Schone van Boskoop in Boechout, Antwerp province. "I make no secret of my pride in this Week van de Smaak," he says. "That's not only because of the huge range of activities that are going on, but also because of the way they're being carried out."
Keersmaekers attaches a lot of importance to cooking with seasonal products, and the week (which is in fact 11 days) consistently supports that idea. "I'm also a big supporter of cooking with local produce," he continues. "Using vegetables from the area is in my genes: my father came from a family of farmers, and my mother from a family of vegetable growers. Cooking to the rhythm of the seasons is more than just nostalgia - it's a way of making sure that varieties of vegetables and fruit forgotten by most people get the respect they deserve."
A campaign has been launched to get people growing and, because this is the 21st century, blogging about it. At moestuinblog.be are contributions from food writers, experts on bio- and historic growing, herb cultivators and more, and keen growers are invited to join in to help inspire each other. There are prizes for the best entries (which must be in Dutch).
Keersmaekers has also invented a whole new dish for the occasion: the savwa is a sort of vegetable sausage made of Savoy cabbage. He'll be presenting it at the grand opening of the Week in his restaurant on 11 November.
- www.deschonevanboskoop.be
Hoppas plate, please
Keersmaekers also helped create 15 hoppas for an action being launched during the Week van de Smaak by Vlaanderen Lekker Land, which helps market local and regional products.
Sorry, hoppas? The name derives from tapas, but with hops. In other words, bite-sized snacks using Flemish beer, destined to be eaten, like tapas, standing up at a convivial bar somewhere. At an event to introduce the hoppas, we were treated to five varieties, and, if this is what appetisers have come to, no wonder the Spanish are happy to wait until midnight before dragging themselves away to the dinnertable.
The hoppas include, among other, tartar of veal fillet with the new Vedett white beer and mackerel mayonnaise; the melt- in-the-mouth kalfskop (head cheese) with herby vinaigrette and Tripel Karmeliet; sorbet of red beet with Lindemans Kriek; a bavarois of Bruges Prestige cheese with a syrup of old Geuze and hand-peeled grey shrimps with potato puree, which culture minister Joke Schauvliege and tourism minister Geert Bourgeois were kind enough to help prepare.
Every province has its own brochure for the Week van de Smaak, and each contains a booklet on Hoppas, with addresses where they'll be available (from the lowliest café to the poshest culinary temple) and recipes for you to try at home. There's also a booklet in English with a selection of addresses from all the provinces. You can download it from the English section of the website.
Programme (x five)
The Week van de Smaak is so huge that there are five programmes available, one for each province. They can be picked up for free from tourist offices and many restaurants and cafes. We've made a selection of what we won't be missing, but you'd do well to pick up your own programme; ours is just a tiny part of the whole - one or two grains of rice from the paella, if you will.
Antwerp
For historical reasons, you wouldn't expect the city of Antwerp to open its heart to the Spaniard, but old animosities have no place in the Week van de Smaak. The non-profit Culinaire Wandelingen hosts (as the name suggests) culinary walking tours of the city in the footsteps of the former Spanish overlords, including tastings of wine, sherry, cava, olives, cheese and meats. At the end, as if that weren't enough, there's a traditional Spanish meat and/or fish stew.
- www.culinairewanderlingen.be
In Mol, residents have been working since May to grow the biggest possible parsnip, a delicious but much-maligned vegetable. On 16 November they'll be facing off, with gastronomic prizes for the winner. On 21 November, the rest of us can enjoy the farmers' market and free parsnip soup made from the best of the entries.
- www.cvomol.be
Brussels
The Spanish influence on this year's Week van de Smaak is almost inescapable in Brussels, but aside from that there's something for English speakers organised by Faro, the organisation for Flemish heritage, on 19 November in their offices in the Priemstraat. British naturopath and herbalist Fiona Grant, among other, will talk about the historic importance of city gardens in life and in literature. Like many of the Smaak events, it's free and includes a sandwich lunch (and a few surprises). Info and reservations at 02.213.10.85.
In Sint-Pieters-Woluwe they're bucking the trend with a cookery evening on 18 November at the Kontakt community centre featuring Italian cook Daniela in a hands-on demonstration of la cucina italiana. Bring an apron, kitchen knife, tea towel and appetite. Later, on 20 November at 10.00, Kontakt is offering a culinary walk with stops at local food shops for on-the-spot tastings.
— kontakt.vgc.be
East Flanders
Het Wereldrestaurant in Ghent's Centrale Cultural Centre provides work experience to young people who each day prepare a meal with an international flavour. From 15 to 19 November, they'll be serving up a Spanish-influenced dish for only €6.50. Reservation required at 09.266.13.21.
- www.decentrale.be
The Guides of Ghent and East Flanders are offering Hoppas walking tours with three stops for tastings, including beer, and a little education on local produce on the side. Reservation required at 09.233.77.88.
Meanwhile in Evergem, hometown of culture minister Joke Schauvliege, there's a theatre performance on 21 November at the public library by the Kip van Troje company including extracts from Cervantes, Lorca and Toon Hermans. It's all accompanied by tapas and a glass of cava.
- www.evergem.be/bibliotheek
Flemish Brabant
One of the highlights of the week for anyone who wants to try out Hoppas big-time is the Tournée gratuite offered by Zarza restaurant in Leuven. On 13 and 20 November they'll lay out a series of 10 Hoppas, each containing a different specialty beer. If you can identify eight of the 10 correctly, you don't have to pay a thing - otherwise there's a bill of €35. Which is still pretty reasonable for 10 beer samples and 10 hearty snacks. Reservation required.
- www.zarza.be
In Kessel-Lo, a walk in the woods turns into a culinary expedition on 21 November as you taste dishes prepared from woodland ingredients.
- www.inverde.be
Especially for English speakers is the presentation on 16 November at the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe on the disastrous potato famine of 1847 and its wide-reaching effects. There will be potato dishes to taste and a Guinness or Belgian beer to go with them.
- www.leuveninstitute.eu
Limburg
Wine gets a bit of attention in the midst of all those local beers thanks to Dirk Hoet from Turnhout, who is now a wine grower in Priorat, Catalonia. He'll be organising wine tasting evenings of his own products at a number of locations and dates around Flanders, including the Ambrozijn restaurant in Borgloon on 15 November. The price of €85 also includes dinner.
— www.ambrozijn.be
History comes to life in Genk on 21 November with a tour of the Winterslag mining area, now a burgeoning new culture and leisure site. The subject is the men, including immigrants, who left their families behind to come and work in the mines. They lived in lodging houses and cooked their own one-pot meals in shared kitchens. At the end of the tour you'll taste for yourself what sort of things they ate.
— www.mijnerfgoed.be
MORE SMAAK THIS MONTH
It's food all month long in Flanders Today: every issue in November covers more Week Van de Smaak and regional specialties in Flanders.
10 November · Aalst · Aalst, East Flanders, known for its outstanding Carnival celebrations every February, is this year's host city for the Week van de Smaak, chosen well before the restaurant Karnavale won the last series of Mijn Restaurant! and put the city on the culinary map of Flanders. There are a host of events planned, so next week's issue we dedicate to Aalst.
Also next week: Immigrants get in on the Week van de Smaak with Expatatas, a celebration of potatoes, with recipes from the home countries of expats living in Brussels and Flanders.
17 November · Spain · This year's guest country, following Turkey last year, is Spain. There's an Iberian tint to many of the activities during the week, and we'll tell you about some of them, plus how Spanish food has influenced chefs and cooking in general in Flanders.
24 November · Regional products · Even when Week van de Smaak is finished, we won't be. In this issue, we'll introduce you to some of Flanders' most delicious and regional specialties, from the potted meat of the Westhoek to the pear syrup of Wellen in southern Limburg.
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