It started with the TV series Katarakt, which brought tourists flocking to the orchards of Limburg province. And now it’s doing it with De Smaak van de Keyser, currently showing on Flemish and Walloon TV, which tells the story of three generations in the family De Keyser, owners of a Hasselt jenever distillery.

There was a whiff of city branding from the very outset, with the series title (The Taste of De Keyser) gently alluding to Hasselt’s slogan “de stad van de smaak” (the city of taste). The Hasselt tourist office, never slow in the marketing department, published a glossy brochure, which was inserted into Knack magazine, persuading the Flemish to visit the town in the TV series.

The results were almost immediate. In December the National Jenever Museum saw visitor numbers rise by 30%, while hotels received 15% more bookings. But Flemish people are not stupid, and they started to notice that the TV series included a lot of scenes that weren’t filmed anywhere near Hasselt. Someone in Scherpenheuvel recognized an oak tree that stood in their municipality. Another sharp eyed Fleming noticed that the De Keyser family home is in fact in Lubbeck, Flemish Brabant.

The other towns were angry that Hasselt had taken all the glory. The tourist office was forced to grovel. “We never said that De Smaak van de Keyser was all about Hasselt,” explained Rob Beenders, councillor for tourism. “We said we were the city of taste, not the city of The Taste of De Keyser.”

So what? You might ask. Some years ago, the BBC filmed the Brussels scenes of Vanity Fair in Bruges, and no one complained. But Flanders has a long history of city pride that goes back to the Middle Ages, which is possibly why it really matters that a tree in a TV series is located in Scherpenheuvel and not Hasselt.