Belgian National Day!
My name is Layla and I am a new addition to the Answers community team, I am also the community manager for Groups and Delicious and hope to showcase some fun ways for you to benefit from tapping into those Yahoo! properties. As a long time Answers member, I am thrilled to be here as an official Yahoo.
Photo by historic.brussels
Given that I have chosen Belgium’s national holiday to post my first blog, I figured this small and fascinating country deserves some coverage. I started by posting a question on Answers to see what our community already knows about the land of chocolate, French fries, mussels, and waffles, and I’ve been having fun reading some of your answers to:
When you think of Belgium what comes to mind?
I could give you an overview with all the right figures — but isn’t that what Jimmy Donal Wales and Larry Sanger created Wikipedia for? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium
Instead, I’ll focus on one of my favorite topics: food.
Belgium produces 220,000 tons of chocolate per year—but looking at the average Belgian tells me they don’t eat it all. Brussels’ national airport is the world’s biggest chocolate-selling point. (That would be an airport I definitely would not mind a long layover at.) A Belgian by the name of Adolphe Quetlet came up with the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is commonly used to determine a person’s ideal weight. (Probably his way of dealing with all the chocolate and beer intake.)
Photo by c3lsius_bb
Proportionally, Belgium has one of the lowest numbers of McDonald’s restaurants in the developed world. It has seven times fewer McDonald’s than the U.S. and two times fewer than France. Can we assume this is a health-conscious nation? Well, Brussels sprouts really do originate in Belgium and have grown there for over 400 years, but this doesn’t stop the Belgians from visiting their own fast food chain: Quick.
After hearing what the Answers Community had to say about Belgium, I was curious to see how the Groups community has embraced the topic. I was surprised to see we currently have over 2,000 groups that show up in search results for Belgium-related groups.
A good example of what many of the Belgian-based groups are about. With 1,117 members, they are a multicultural, international social club for people in their 20s and 30s living in Brussels, Belgium. They organize a wide range of events to cater to all interests. So if you are visiting Belgium, you might want to check them out.
The_best_Belgian_and_Dutch_music_group
Don’t have time for a visit but want to learn more about Belgium? This group, created seven years ago, has over 300 active members. This is a place for fans of Belgian music, no matter where they’re located in the world. With lots of pictures, wallpapers, music, video files, and newsletters, this is an ideal place to learn about Belgian music and artists, including the latest gossip on Ian Van Dah.
Are you intrigued yet? Keep in mind that Belgium is not only about good food, but home to many great artists: one of the world renowned surrealist painters Rene Magritte is Belgian and Adolphe Saxe, a native of Dinant in Wallonia, invented the saxophone.
Want to learn more about Belgium? Follow me on Delicious as I discover more fun articles about this small, fascinating country.
Thanks for reading!
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What about the great Belgian beer Jupiler
My father’s parents were born in Belgium & I hold on to our traditions. I still make a lot of Grandmother’s recipes out of a Begian cookbook.
Lukkin cookies at Christmas.
lmfao I actually want to work at Neuhaus, a belgian chocolatier here in NYC!
You forgot to mention that Dr. Evil grew-up in Belgium. He used to make meat helmets in his youth.
MMMM MMMMM! That picture makes me hungry. Congrats, Layla! I wish you good luck!
I’m from Belgium
Belgium makes some pretty fine, beer, too.
Southern Door county in wisconsin is where many from belgium moved to. Great frog legs in niamur, wisconsin.
I think Switzerland has the MOST delicious chocolate in the world. The only chocolate that comes from Switzerland is Lindt. It is way better than Hershey’s, Ghiradelli and Godiva.
I love Belgium because TINTIN is from there!!!!!
Do you know the The Adventures of Tintin? The baby-faced reporter with the cute little quiff? LOVE him! 
Oh! Belgium truely is a lovely place. Although, my family is from the Netherlands. We love beautiful Belgium just as much. So glad today is national Belgium day. Can’t believe I wasn’t aware.
My Father was an immigrant from Belgium, since I am 1/2 Belgian and 1/2 Irish American I will give you the 1/2 truth of anything. LOL! Proud of where I came from upon Europe.
Thank you Yahoo for posting this information. I am proud to be an American, but proud of my heritage too!
No one will forget the atrocities committed by the Belgian colonials in Congo.
Anyone that makes that much chocolate is a friend of mine.
I`m definately putting Belgium on my list of places to visit, I LOVE CHOCOLATE
I just came back from Belgium where I escorted my Flemish born Mom to visit with her brother Pierre in Diepenbeek. I am half Flams and half NC Dutch/English. I love the architecture and the lush green countryside but would not trade the US for Belgium. With Brussels as the capital of the European Union and all the nations who have joined it, they are striving to be like the USA, but having a hard time agreeing on how to work together, with the Shegen treaty and the use of a united monetary system (Euros) and especially health issues. They have a long way to go before they have what we here in the US have.
I have first cousins in Flanders and love them dearly. Get to visit with them about every 5 years. The Femish can be more chauvinistic than the French and the centuries-old argument with the Walloons makes very little sense.
But you can’t beat them for generosity, joy of life and common sense.
Sometimes it’s hard to see our everyday lives as different and unique. I wanted to try to see it thru the eyes of a visiting culture. I would surely want to go outside and play in the snow, no matter how cold and windy it was. I made my parents come out and play in the snow, we drank Peppermint Patty’s (hot chocolate + Peppermint Schnapps), and ate from our big platter of decorated sugar cookies.
I really celebrated one of good christmas day.
I’m from syria hi layla