Upgrading the local. Belgian cuisine in global waves

The essay touches upon questions of food as an identity marker, the nature of local food, and the influence of foreign food. The case of Belgium reveals a relationship between local and foreign foods in terms of both incorporation and exclusion. The nature of present-day Belgian cuisine is explored. This is confronted to global influences since long. Two international waves are suggested (the French hegemony in the 19th century; the globalization in the 1960s and 1970s), leading to two reactions (1900-1940; 1980 to the present). Obviously, mutual influences were and are very present.