We love talking to people who love doing what they do. We’ve found the people who produce artisanal food do so because they are passionate about creating a wonderful product. We’ve met folks who make artisanal cheese, beer, wine, gin, bread, chocolate, and pasta. We’ve talked to farmers who grow grapes, strawberries, and apples, and those who raise pigs, goats, cows, rabbits, ducks, ostriches, and even snails. They all have one thing in common – passion. That passion shines through it every taste of their product and we think it’s worth the effort to seek them out.
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Westons Cider, Herefordshire, England
In Belgium, beer may be the drink of choice, but in western England, the beloved beverage is something else – cider. At Westons Cider, in Herefordshire, you can sample the best of what the west has to offer.
A Brussels Waffle with powdered sugar (by cipher on Wiki)
While to the outside world, Belgium may look like a country that argues over language, inside the country, there is an even hotter debate – who serves the best Belgian waffles?
Here at CheeseWeb, we don’t shy away from hard-hitting topics, so we wanted to weigh in on the great waffle debate. For us the best waffles come not from a waffle cart but from Belgium’s traditional cookie-maker, Dandoy.
Belgian Boudin Blanc
As my food hero, Anthony Bourdain, says, every culture has its own version of ‘meat in tube form’. Belgium is no exception. Although boudin isn’t a strictly Belgian invention, it’s part of the fabric of food culture here and love it, or hate it, everyone has an opinion on it.
Charcuterie is one of the (many) foods we’ve developed a passion for, since moving to Europe. Sausages, hams and patés, weren’t my cup of tea back in Canada, but Europeans take cured meats to a whole other mouth-watering level. That said, many years passed, before I dared taste the pasty looking boudin.
A bustling Saturday at the City Market
As travellers, we dream for far-flung destinations; palm lined beaches, vibrant cities and postcard-perfect landscapes. But in our search for the exotic, we often neglect the unique and interesting places right on our doorstep. In over six years of travel writing, I have never once written about my hometown of Saint John, New Brunswick. Today I’m going to change that, by showing you my favourite thing about Saint John – The City Market.
One of the things I love most about living in Europe is the market culture. Even the smallest town has a place where locals can gather to buy fresh produce, meats, seafood, baked goods and handcrafts. I’ve fallen in love with markets in Paris, Arles, La Rochelle and Pau in France; Barcelona and Valladolid in Spain; London, Helsinki, Krakow and Amsterdam to say nothing of our fabulous markets here in Brussels. And yet, for years, I had neglected the one special place I had grown up with – The Saint John City Market.
Despite Brussels’ reputation for having excellent seafood, one thing I miss most from my Canadian home is lobster. Say what you will about Maine, Irish or Caribbean lobster, but for me, the best of the best has to be Atlantic Canadian Lobster.
