Most of the bread here in Belgium is very fresh and preservative-free and can be bought for under 2 euro ($2.50 or so). It took us a little while to get used to the drier texture, but we soon grew to prefer it to the breads we used to get at Albertson's. Most people here are pretty particular about their bread. They like it fresh, usually same-day fresh. Without preservatives, it doesn't stay fresh more than 2-3 days. So many people buy their bread each morning. It's wonderfully fresh from the bakery (another difference, there are lots of bakeries - they're like Starbucks). Fresh bread is such a big thing that if the stores are closed (which they are more often than in the US), there are options for getting bread. There are bread machines. I'm not talking about the kind where you put in the ingredients, plug it in and a few hours later you have a home-made loaf. I'm talking bread vending machines. At a gas station not far from our house there are 3 vending machines: one with "drank" - cans of beverages (including beer), one with "snoep" candy and snacks, and one with "brood" loaves of bread. When I told some Oregon friends about this, not surprisingly someone asked "how good could that be?" But you'd be surprised - it's actually not bad at all. Because if it was bad or stale, no one would buy it! So the machine is refilled each day with fresh bread. It's not the best we've had, but it certainly cuts it for sandwiches or to go with spaghetti on a Sunday night.
Monday, January 26
Bread
Most of the bread here in Belgium is very fresh and preservative-free and can be bought for under 2 euro ($2.50 or so). It took us a little while to get used to the drier texture, but we soon grew to prefer it to the breads we used to get at Albertson's. Most people here are pretty particular about their bread. They like it fresh, usually same-day fresh. Without preservatives, it doesn't stay fresh more than 2-3 days. So many people buy their bread each morning. It's wonderfully fresh from the bakery (another difference, there are lots of bakeries - they're like Starbucks). Fresh bread is such a big thing that if the stores are closed (which they are more often than in the US), there are options for getting bread. There are bread machines. I'm not talking about the kind where you put in the ingredients, plug it in and a few hours later you have a home-made loaf. I'm talking bread vending machines. At a gas station not far from our house there are 3 vending machines: one with "drank" - cans of beverages (including beer), one with "snoep" candy and snacks, and one with "brood" loaves of bread. When I told some Oregon friends about this, not surprisingly someone asked "how good could that be?" But you'd be surprised - it's actually not bad at all. Because if it was bad or stale, no one would buy it! So the machine is refilled each day with fresh bread. It's not the best we've had, but it certainly cuts it for sandwiches or to go with spaghetti on a Sunday night.
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