Bring on the Brussels

The rise of “foodie-ism” is increasingly evident around us – the popularity of reality TV food shows is sky-rocketing, with professional and home cooks competing in the kitchens of Top Chef (with multiple international versions including an Arabic version, Canada, Finland, France, Greece, Indonesia, Portugal, Romania, Spain & Poland!) Iron Chef and Master Chef.

Does it seem like suddenly everyone around you can name-drop international dishes like ceviche, laksa and ossobucco? Who used to know what kombucha or kimchi was? On the one hand we have increasingly adventurous and expanding palates, sniffing far and wide to find flavours from across the world, which will provoke and awaken our senses; on the other hand we have also been attempting to come closer to the ground, closer to our farms and producers.

Citizens are more and more concerned about where their food is coming from, how it was made and what it contains. Food scandal after food scandal has brought the horror-show of our industrialized food system straight into people’s homes. Farmer’s markets are becoming more accessible in some places, though still remain in the domain of the Bo-bo (bourgeois-boheme). While getting all your food from a farmer’s market is not realistic for most people and supporting your local producers is not enough to overhaul our entire food system, it is a small step towards making a change.

So when we suggested a Funnelogy Channel Cooking Challenge, a whole bunch of our Brussels friends jumped onto the foodie wagon.

“Where exactly is your parsley from?” 

THE CHALLENGE
The rules were simple yet ambitious, 2 Teams of 4 people needed to plan, buy and prepare a menu with – 

4 colours
4 countries
40 €

We all went to the St Gilles Saturday market in Brussels together to gather ingredients, each team equipped with a budget of 40€. For an ingredient to be approved for the competition they had to know where it came from, the more details the better. The variety of places that our food comes from in Brussels is eye opening. Most of the vegetables are unsurprisingly grown in Europe, more exotic fruits such as mangoes come from as far as Peru, but the biggest shock of the day were the shrimps from Venezuela! Some vendors were able to give you the address and name of his friend who makes mozzarella in La Louviere right outside Brussels and some vendors who deliver straight from the wholesalers could not tell you more than, “it’s all from the EU.” The market is rich with extraordinary characters whose stories we are excited to share with you, but that will be for another day. 

Behind the scenes filming at the St Gilles market

THE COOKING
Once back in the kitchen, the 2 teams – Ketje and Confetti, got busy preparing dishes with 4 colours and 4 countries within the 2-hour time frame.

An impressive array of shades and flavours emerged, from the Belgian flag –black, yellow and red, as well as the gorgeous deep purple of a head of cabbage and the bursting green of fresh mint and coriander. Inspiration came from as far as Thailand, China, Peru, Turkey and Morocco as well as some closer to home aromas from Italy, France and Spain.

THE MENUS

Ketje     
Pumpkin Coconut Thai Soup with beetroot, sweet potato & potato crisps
Hong Kong inspired clam & shrimp black rice risotto
Krieg Krunch – strawberry, pomegranate, cream & almond crunch topped with Kriek (cherry beer) reduction syrup
 
Confetti
Diego – purple cabbage baked in stout, topped with roasted potato and caramelized onions
Peruvian/Chilean Ceviche
Moroccan Kefta Tajine 
Italian Fennel and orange salad
Fruit a la Confetti – cinnamon ginger orange topped with baked apples & rhuabarb jam dried figs

THE EATING
The constant hustle and bustle in the kitchen continued till the last minute of “time’s up!” – knives furiously chopping away, sauces and soups simmering in pots and pans, as bellies steadily got hungrier.

By the time the food was served, everyone was ready to devour the creative creations. We wanted to hear stories and anecdotes, but decided to focus on the pure joy of eating first. We gobbled up comforting Moroccan meatballs (Kefta) contrasted with delicate pumpkin coconut soup. There was an impressive blend of freshness through lime marinated raw fish ceviche and spicy Asian clams and shrimps with notes of soya, garlic and ginger. The most innovative ingredient of the day could easily be the Kriek reduction syrup created by boiling Belgian Kriek cherry beer with brown sugar – hopefully we’ll be having the leftover syrup with pancakes for brunch tomorrow.

The teams were judged on different criteria, not only on taste, but also teamwork, creativeness, presentation and interpretation. The teams did Brussels foodies proud, bringing it on in the kitchen with enthusiasm, zest and most importantly, a big fat dose of FUN.

Special thanks to Amelie, Ben, Berber, Ele, James, Marta, Sam, Stephanie & Oyvind!