‘The Hungry Belgian’ came to America on a work assigment in late 1999 at the young age of… well… young. Let’s leave it at that. Alright?
Born & raised in a small rural town in Flanders, Belgium – home of the mighty trifecta of waffles, chocolate & beer – I currently reside in Southern California, with my beau and our beloved two furry people, aka ‘the selfish opportunists’.
During the ordinary weekday, I disguise myself as a travel professional and send people from all over the world to various beautiful corners of the USA, all from my cubicle on the 6th floor of a high rise building. I’ve been told this is my full-time job, but it never quite feels as a job?!
On weekends, I enjoy foraging for food and can be found at farmers markets, blueberry groves, goat farms, apple orchards… or – plain and simple – in my small apartment kitchen.
I hope you enjoy my blog. It’s a pleasure to have you around!
The Hungry Belgian 
Hello! I found your blog via your facebook page! Very lovely! and the recipes are amazing! 🙂 Following you now!
xoxo
felicia
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Thank you for the gratuitous flattering, Felicia! You’re very welcome and I’m glad at least someone reads my blog posts! 😉
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Love your blog!! My mother is Belgian, so naturally I found your site intriguing!
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Thank you, Tracy! And please tell your mom I said hello… Or should I say “goeiedag”?! 😉
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Great blog 🙂
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Thank you for the gratuitous flattery! I’m glad you like it. 🙂
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My husband is from Duffel and I am Canadian we live in Massachusetts. I would love to get some Belgian recipes to surprise him.His Grandmother gave me a cookbook but it is in Dutch. Hard to surprise him with a meal if I have to have him translate the recipe:)
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Hi Lynn, look for “Flemish beef stew” or “blind finches” on here.. These are two very popular and truly authentic “vlaamse” (Flemish) recipes.
Your husband will also like the Flemish beignets (oliebollen), they are a staple during the biggest fair in Antwerp, the “Sinksenfoor”… Good luck!
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Oh and, Lynn… I’d be happy to translate any recipe you find in your book. You can contact me at helgasblog@yahoo.com
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My husband and I have traveled to Belgium three times in the last few years. Love it!! We love Antwerp and Brussels. The food is enough to take the trip for!
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Thank you for the cheer, Julia. Needless to say, I love Belgian food too! 😉
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Hello. I am married to a Flemish man (born in Antwerp) for 8 years. We lived in Berlare, Belgium for 3 years, the UK for 5 years, and are now in the US temporarily (for a year). I noticed “mijn man” seems to be missing some of his native dishes, so I decided I would do Flemish rice pudding for desert today. I found your blog/site and HOORAY… the authentic “rijspap met saffron” recipe . What other traditional dishes do you think might cheer him up (he doesn’t like mussels:-) ) and where could I find them online? I do not have a Flemish cookbook with me at the moment. Many Thanks and Kind Regards! skv
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Hello Shawn,
My best friend is from Antwerp and I have many college memories from spending time on the ‘Linkeroever’ and in places like ‘Ulke Van Zurich’ and ‘De 9 Vaten’. Maybe some of those memories are not fit for publishing?! Hm? 😉
He’s goin to be a BIG fan of the ‘Belgo-American Beef Tartare’ I have posted on my blog here. In Flemish this is called ‘Filet Americain’ and it’s wildly popular on sandwiches. He might alos like the chicken stew from my city (Ghent) called ‘waterzooi’ (also on my blog here), or ‘Blinde Vinken’. Go check them out, they’re all on my blog here. Also, if you scroll under the categories and go to ‘authentically Belgian’, you have a few to choose from! If he’s a fan of ‘advokaat’ (sort of like a spiked thick egg nog), I can get that recipe for him too.
Thanks for stopping by and liking my blog!
Helga
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Hi Shawn , Berlare is my place of birth and lived there until 2 years ago , then we moved to Thailand. If you’re looking for THE typical dish from Berlare : frogleggs ! Simple to make = season the legs with salt & pepper , toss them in a bag with flower to cover them a bit , fry in (a lot) real farm butter and at the end trow in some crushed garlic cloves and that’s it… TIP : do NOT let the garlic become brown (otherwise you’ll have a bitter taste) ! Enjoy…
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And this one is to The Hungry Belgian himself : great blog you have here ! I found it by Pinterest.
Being retired in Thailand , I have a lot of free time to do my hobby = cooking.
And the misses love flemish food !
Keep up the good work and … ENJOY !
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Bedankt Frank!
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Just found your blog and looking forward to some leisure time to thoroughly read through it! My family (maternal grandparents) were from Ruddervoorde and I hope I’ll find some Belgian recipes that will remind me of my Grandma.
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Jackie, so glad you found my wee little blog. I hope you like it and there will be another blog post soon. In the meantime, take a peek under the section “authentically Belgian”, and you’ll find a few very traditional recipes. Enjoy!
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Dear Hungry Belgian,why on earth hadn’t I found your site earlier! You brought prepare back into our lives.We also immigrated to the US… from Lembeke,Oost-VL, in 2003 to be exact,to South Dakota….yep…the Dakotas…you heard me,lol. We would have visitors bring prepare-sauce for us…yeah,…that would not last long in our household.Low and behold…I find your.freaking awesome recipe,it’s spot on and love love loove it! I have to confess,it’s been on my menu at least once a day for the past 3 days! :-0
Merci!
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…and I’m so glad you did! Born in Aalst and raised in St. Gillis Dendermonde, also Oost-Vlaanderen. It’s still mind-boggling to my American family that I lived immediately behind a genuine medieval castle in my early twenties (‘s Gravensteen in Gent) and eat raw beef galore without blinking eye. Leve Vlaanderen! 😉 PS: I haven’t yet told them I’ve so eaten “water konijn” once or twice in a tiny village named Vlassenbroek.
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PSS: it’s Feb and it’s 88F here in SoCal. I thought you’d get a kick out of that. 😉
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OMG!! Helga!! Al 8 jaar in Londen en net uw recept voor Filet Americain gevonden!! Kan niet wachten om dit in de mixer te voorschijn te toveren! Broodje martino coming up!
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Geweldig! Geniet ervan. Ne goeie martino kan er altijd in, he! 😉
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I stumbled across your blog in a search for something totally unrelated, but my wife is West Flemish and loves when the cold weather arrives in Atlanta because it inspires her to cook all the hearty winter dishes. Me, I’m a Southern Californian.
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That’s great to hear, Larry. The Belgians are everywhere! 😉
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How many waffles does your recipie make?
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Sorry for the huge delay! I didn’f see your message. The recipe makes about 10-15 waffles depending on the size of your iron.
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I was born in Brussels Belgium – I had aunts & uncles & cousins all over Belgium. I moved to New York when I was 12 years old. My mom still cooked like we were in Belgium. I miss that cooking very much. As a matter of fact my co worker was talking about red cabbage. my mouth watered. My mom didn’t teach me to cook sad. I went on line to find a Belgium recipe. found it and i’m making it tonight, I’ll let you know if it tastes like my mom’s…
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That’s awesome Jenny! I don’t have much time to write on my blog anymore, but I’m thrilled that you found me and some of my family’s favorites!
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