Chocolate and Beer

On my flight to Brussels this afternoon, I settled in to catch up on the blog, and write about my trip to Paris last weekend with my mom.  But after a considerable amount of work, that deadly spinning rainbow ball appeared on the screen of my MacBook Pro and the only way I could un-freeze my computer was to shut it down.  I know this has happened to you—in one way or another—and you know how discouraging it is.  So I just quit.  I’ll come back to Paris on tomorrow’s flight home.

Forgive me for telling you what’s been going on out of order, but that’s just the way I need to do this right now.  What am I doing in Brussels, you ask?  Let’s start with the fact that I have written very little about my work on this blog.  I have been thinking and reading a great deal, but up until recently the specific direction I plan to move in has been quite inchoate, and it seemed torturous for me to take you along on the windy, sometimes repetitive, sometimes nonsensical walk I’ve been going on inside my brain.

But Brussels is a work trip.   When I arrived in Barcelona, Manuel, my mentor and the person who made it possible for us to spend the year in Barcelona, was just finishing a documentary called Homage to Catalunya 2 (a la Orwell, whose book (#1) sits on my bookshelf glaring at me for not having cracked its spine).  The documentary, which Manuel created along with a remarkable young woman named Joana Conill, looks deeply at alternative economic practices such as coops, bartering, and social currency.  Although these practices pre-existed the economic crisis of 2008, they have begun to grow more quickly in its wake.  Given that it now seems quite obvious that a lifestyle and economy based on overconsumption is insupportable, perhaps we should look to these alternative practices as a way forward.

The next stage of the work has been a survey of Catalonians, and a series of focus groups, to delve deeper into what people are really doing, and why they are attracted to such practices.  This is where I come in.  I’ve been helping the team, in a behind the scenes sort of way, in moving the project forward.  And there is a relationship with my own burgeoning work on the Slow City movement.  But more on that later.  So when the European Parliament invited Joana to show the film and lead a discussion, I came along as part of the entourage.

I spent about an hour yesterday thinking about what else I might do in Brussels during my few off hours. “What is Belgium known for?” I thought.  Chocolate, beer, mussels, and frites.  I decided to do my best to consume as many items from that list as possible.  So when I arrived at the hotel at 3:30 and my room was not ready, I decided not to get grumpy, but rather to take a walk.  I had google-mapped the route from my hotel to the two best chocolate shops, and decided that now was as good a time as any to stretch my legs and taste some chocolate.  I had told Alec before I left about my food plan.  “Sounds good,” he said.  “But honestly, I don’t need any more chocolate in the house right now.” (After you read the forthcoming Paris entry, you’ll understand).  “What does need have to do with anything?” I replied.  “Suit yourself.  There will be more for me.”

I walked the 15 minutes from my hotel to the Sablon, and quickly found Pierre Marcolini.  And then I looked around and realized I was standing in the dead center of a veritable chocolate agglomeration.  Within one block I saw Godiva, Leonidas, Neuhaus, and Wittamer.  I’ve never seen anything like it.

I decided to go to Wittamer first, and bought a small box filled with champagne truffles, praline caramels, and other goodies.  Then I crossed back to Pierre Marcolini and bought a box of tonka truffles. Tonka is a spice from South America.  It is a bean that has a spicy, fruity, vanilla flavor.  It’s also been banned in the US  since 1954 because it contains something called coumarin, which apparently causes liver problems in rats when consumed in massive, concentrated quantities.  I’m betting my teensy box of 13 truffles won’t do much damage, even if I snarfed them all in one sitting.  For the most part I am not a rule breaker or risk taker, so I suppose I get a little thrill out of buying and consuming something that is, somewhere, illegal.

I got back to the hotel just in time to stash my chocolate and meet Amalia, another of our research team members, in the lobby to walk over to Parliament.  We had a pretty good turnout—about 50 people—and they seemed quite engaged with the work.  The word is spreading.  I had made a dinner reservation at a place where I could get quality moules and beer, but our host wanted to take us out so of course we went.  Really good vegetarian restaurant called Dolma, which made me feel whole and healthy, but still I longed for the frites.  At least I got my beer.  On the walk home after dinner, I popped into a corner store to buy a couple of bars of Cote D’Or for the pantry.

So you’ll have to wait for Paris.  But to keep busy, click on the Homage to Catalunya 2 link above, where you can view the documentary.  It’s about an hour.  If you do watch, let me know what you think.