Lilac Colored Glasses

Belgians will not be impressed, but my current favorite (Belgian) television show is something called Komen Eten, which translates to “come eat”.  I believe it was originally a British television program and VT4 has adopted the format and moved it to Flanders (not Wallonia, mind you…basically almost anytime I use the word “Belgian”, I’m using it interchangeably with Flemish, unless otherwise stated. Seriously, they might as well be two different countries. Picture the North and the South circa 1850, being held together by an umbilical called Washington D.C. and that’s the current state of the country…well except that the Africans in Belgium are here by choice).

What it is is a show where 4 different “contestants” host and cook a dinner at their home for the other 3 contestants.  Each person makes a menu and on their night they cook and decorate the table nicely for everyone else. Simple, right?
Yes! Very simple! A nice 40 minute show where I get to see different recipes, hear different dialects and learn some new expressions and words both conversationally and food wise. It’s a very visual show, which helps me to understand as well. It’s so much easier, for me anyway, to follow the contestants as they shop, cook, look around their host’s house and then rate the evening and food as opposed to watching something like Terzake, which is usually a bunch of people (intelligent people, usually) sitting around a table discussing current events, which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong, it’s just very hard for me to follow a show that gives no visual cues on the topic being discussed. Plus the vocabulary is also a bit beyond my current word bank and while I have an easy time learning kitchen vocabulary, I definitely have a harder time absorbing the Dutch words for “nuclear fission” or “circumvented despot.”

Here’s a little excerpt from one of the episodes of the show. I doubt most of you will understand it, but maybe you can see, between the subtitles and the slower talking how I can actually relax and enjoy watching this show as opposed to getting a migraine trying to follow it.