given that being so healthy and everything, why do most of them drink a lot of coffee in a day

a black coffee without milk or sugar is like 1kcal lol.

1. Curious where you're from and what your standards are because official numbers say 50% is over weight and 15% is obese.

Straightforward people? Guess culture shock #6 is awaiting you

1. Good bread is very delicious and not dry. It is also a relatively easy thing to buy and take to work.
2. Why not? Clothes aren't important, and unless you work in fashion, nobody cares about how you dress.
3. Look better. About 1/3 of adult Belgians is overweight and another 1/5 is obese. Still bad, although other countries might be worse.
4. Long history. Involves some things like French being the language of the elite, and the poorer class being made to feel inferior.
5. The weather is a safe topic to complain about. Nobody is going to get mad about 'bad weather eh'.

WE ONLY EAT ONE HOT MEAL A DAY OR BE EXECUTED!

WE EAT STUUTJES FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!

DROGE STUUTN ME CHOCO OF SHELLE KOAS!

1. Bread is a staple food for us. A simple sandwich with just a slice of meat is quite boring, I agree, but it's also quick and easy to make and transport. For a lot of people, lunch is just something they want to get over with quick so they get back to work.
2. Same reason we eat bread with a slice of meat for lunch: convenience. But of course that doesn't hold true for all men.
3. I'm guessing you're American? Belgians have a weight problem too, but it's nowhere near as bad as the US. Americans tend to eat larger portions, and they have even less strict food laws than we do in the EU. That even goes for junk food. To lazily quote Google AI: "Yes, cola in the U.S. is generally considered less healthy than in Europe, primarily due to significantly higher sugar content, the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) instead of cane sugar, and the presence of artificial dyes banned in the EU"
4. Not gonna get into all that, but yes, there's some history. I don't know many people who *hate* Walloons. But there are people who'd rather see Flanders and Wallonia separate, in part because of they think the language barrier contributes to government inefficiency. There's also an economic discussion at play here but you'll have to ask someone who's really into that topic.

Nevertheless, pretty much all Flemish people speak English thanks to our education and generally being surrounded by English culture. You may have noticed that we don't put dubs over everything, we watch shows in their native language with subtitles. As a kid, I learned my first English words through the Simpsons and playing Age of Empires.

1. Because if we talk about the news, we get depressed.

Yeah we like our bokes/stutjes. I dont know why we eat so much bread. There is also this funny saying in belgium you can only have 1 hot meal a day. I agree with you after a while it gets boring and I want something else than bread for lunch. Honestly I wouldn't call Belgians fit or healthy in fact obesity is on the rise especially in young children. Belgians are reserved we don't like to talk about personal stuff with people we dont know well so we talk about the weather. And the language has been an issue since the existence of belgium we dont hate each other or fight but it's just complicated you know.

1) explains 3). We usually cook elaborate fresh meals in the evening after work. Take-out or sandwiches are expensive and unhealthy. 2) clothes for work are for functionality not expression. 3) coffee doesn’t make you fat and sodas are most often sugarfree. 4) watch the movie Daens 5) topics like politics and religion are avoided outside the inner circle. So the weather, sports (cycling, soccer etc.) or tv shows are neutral topics amongst collegues. We like commiserating so the weather or traffic are perfect subjects.

Edit in point 5

1. Dinner is traditionally the main meal of the day, so lunch is indeed often neglected. I hope those colleagues of yours at least have some butter on their bread, because that would otherwise indeed be dry.

2. Might depend on the person and the circumstances, but outer clothing is usually worn for several days to a week, while undergarments are changed daily. I can imagine that this is different in warmer climates.

3. I think we have a pretty large part of the population that is overweight, our cuisine is quite heavy as well, so I don't really consider us to be paragons of health, depends on what country you're comparing to I guess?

4. It's because of the long pending unsorted history.

5. Because we love to complain about the weather. It's also probably the easiest conversation starter.

1. To be honest I don't understand it either and I don't eat like that.

2. Never noticed, no idea.

3. People walk and bike a lot.

4. History yes, but hating walloons is way exaggerated, it's more of a politician thing.

5. I've noticed this all over Europe honestly.

Drinking coffee in the eu is not really the same as in the us. We often like our coffee black and sugarless. Not the fanciest, but also not fattening at all. And god forbid you ever ask an Italian to serve you starbucks products! They will pray to the lord 3x ave maria and faint as if you killed the mamma. Source: I am italian. Beware.

I got to ask: where are you from?

yes

Belgians aren't known to be creative nor spontaneous. Many will wear and eat the same thing everyday, no matter how boring it becomes lol

1: You mean a standard sandwich (not brioches)? How many do you expect to eat? 2 full sandwiches (aka 4 slices and something between them) is already a sufficient cold meal. Also... snack at 10, snack at 16.

2: Life isn't a catwalk

3: We're not in Florida.

4: yeah I don't have time to write all that.

5: We can't control the weather, we like being in control. And it's a topic that affects everyone.

1. I'm very tired of it personally and I stopped doing it. Bread does fill the stomach though as it is quite heavy.
   
2. As a guy I don't have a lot of clothing variation. A couple of shirts, a couple of sweaters, a couple of pants. You don't really need any more?
   
3. Caffeine is actually not bad for your health. Regular caffeine intake is correlated with lower risk of all cause heart-mortality. Soft drinks are a different story, but then it's also quite common to drink the 'zero sugar' version of those.
   
4. Yes it is because of history, but also just because the English language is part of international movie, gaming, and internet culture. So for young people it is quite easy to pick up, while we no longer have many examples of French in our daily lives. This makes French quite a hated subject at school.
   
5. The weather is not too bad the past few years because of climate change, but I think you'll find that in any country where there is bad weather, talking about it becomes part of the culture because it is an easy form of shared suffering. It is human to talk about those things in order to spread information that's important for survival.

1. Part of the reason is that Belgian people in general don't like to stand out, so most men just buy grey, black and blue clothes which all looks pretty similar

1. we're lazy. Bread is low-effort/lazy good food

2. we're lazy. Same clothes is easy.

3. that's a lie.

4. we think walloons/french-speaking part are even more lazy.

5. we're lazy. weather is easy topic everyone knows about

1. It's just a cultural thing, but most Belgians don't do warm lunches and just do sandwiches or a light lunch. I don't know why, might just be a historical thing, but I think outside if your job has a canteen most people just do bread, soup or salad. I myself find having a hot lunch tends to make me sleepy.
   
2. Men's fashion tends to be quite limited and not something given much thought to. Being too into fashion is seen as unmasculine and so most guys just find a few sets that work and wear them forever.
   
3. Can't comment there, don't know your baseline. I'd say it depends on where and what age.
   
4. Belgium historically has had a lot of tensions surrounding language, with a dominant French culture oppressing the larger Flemish speaking population. This was still an ongoing issue within living memory, such as unrest about higher education being mostly French, etc. This has not been resolved. I'd personally add that there is also some annoyance about most Flemish speakers being decent at speaking French, but most French-speakers being incapable at the reverse. This often causes things such as a meeting with six Flemish individuals and one French speaker to require being done entirely in French, which is a bit irksome.
   
5. It's a safe topic to bitch about. Belgians love bitching. It's one of our national pasttimes.

1. It’s also the lack of French speaking people being able to speak Dutch. In Flanders we learn to speak French, I have no idea if they actually learn and practice the same amount of Dutch in Wallonia. Either way the Ardennes in Wallonia are nice as are the people.

1. A sandwich is easy and doable with butter. There is this thing that belgians cannot eat more than 1 big (warm) meal a day.
2. Never noticed this. I have an Italian colleague that wears everyday the same but I’m sure he has multiple of the same.
3. Lots of softdrinks and coffee diring the day, bad coffee as well. I work with a lot of foreigners and they usually just drink water.
4. It’s just because English is easier for most flemish I believe.
5. Have you seen the weather today? Jeez bro!

Sounds more like Flemish and Dutch culture tbh. If anything all of what you described is wayyy more obvious in Netherlands.

But after having lived in many countries, this straightforwardness makes living quite easy in both NL and Flanders. Bureaucracy exists but it also ticks and works (albiet slow in several smaller gemeentes).

I expect and have gotten only honesty and decency in both these countries.

1. They don’t know anything about food they say it’s fast and healthy but it’s habit from way back.Thats why they don’t have good food en spiced food with taste.But if you ask them they still gonna lie in you face and say they have good food.

2. About the clothes it doesn’t matter so much if you only work work work in Belgium. And the social life is pretty much non existent.

3. A lot of biking and running pretty much and food with less calories than other countries.

4. A lot to say but i tell you it in the short way, tis de strijd tussen Vlaanderen en Wallonie.

5. The weather is just Belgium nothing to complain about you can search now online how the weather is in the contry. Before you move here but yeah sun is important for the mood so yeeeaaaah.

You are right about the dry bread thing, its trash. People have wack lunch game here

We're Europoors you know. That's why we can't become overweight, with just some dry bread to eat, and our only suit is the one from our marriage, also we need water to drink and soften the bread so the soggy weather is a matter of life and death. /j.

1. Fast lunch preparing in the morning, or the single soup from the machine because its free (that gave me stomach acidity and holes). Economic and pratical reasons... Now I have found a girlfriend and she makes my lunches everyday (I told her she is not obligated but she loves so, so why not).

2. Because I am lazy and doing regularly laundries is exhausting. No one cares how you dress at the office. I have the same jeans for the whole week and change the top twice a week. I just change my underwears everyday after daily shower.

3. Because food is expensive and this year 2026 fast food delivery is much more taxed. Also I am addicted to swimming. Maybe because Belgians love doing sports, idk.

4. Ik ben een dumb frans waloon en dat is oké... I understand the folks having to learn French (Flemish people can speak French) while the lazy dumbass waloons won't dare learning it and better lean on their carapils (just kidding mijn barakies, I love you) and also historical reasons like French is the bourgeoisie language and Vlaams people were exploited workers back in history (I feel for them).

5. Well when you don't have any topic to talk about we usually use the weather as a subject to talk to people.

Hope that helps.

I love my fellow Belgians, Dutch, French, German... We are like a soup.

1. At first, I also found that extremely typically boring from us. I thought it was just a habit that we learned as a kid, always having bread made by your parents at school and then you just continue it for yourself when you grow up.

But now I really like the convenience. After diner, just 5 minutes for making my lunch and I don't have to think about it anymore.

Also why people do this: lack of time to eat. In some work environments, they are very strict with your 30 minutes lunch break. I even know someone who has only 2x 12 minutes of pauses.

Once I stressed when I wanted to warm up my lunch but there were 2 people waiting before me for the microwave! (So I planned my break at other moments or made sure I had cold lunch.)

see below for my comments on the rest

1. Few slices of bread with meat There's butter/margarine in there, as well. And a sandwich often also has mustard, or slices of meat with herbs and spices in it. Also... go to the grocery store, and look at the salads. Not the lettuce salads, but salads to put on a sandwich, like chicken/curry, shrimps in garlic sauce, egg salad,... Some ppl bring leftovers to lunch, but you'd either have to eat it cold (shudder) or find a microwave. Can you imagine the queue, if everyone had to heat up their lunch??

2. Some ppl wear the same work outfit for (half) a week. Those ppl will usually change out of their work clothes when they get home, and wear lounge wear the rest of the day. Some ppl do have several sets of the same outfits. In my experience, Flemish men prefer a subdued outfit for work, nothing that stands out.

3. I don't know where you're originally from, but our cuisine is kindda healthy, and nutritious. Yeah, we all eat fries, time to time, but for daily meals, there's a lot of stews, and lots of vegetables. I had international friends come over, and they asked my mom to cook traditional dishes. To be fair, my mom was Dutch, but the dishes are kindda the same. Dutch pea soup (snert) and sourkraut mash with smoked sausage and gravy. They tapped out after the pea soup. Couldn't finish the rest. And weren't hungry most of the next day.

Oh! This also belongs in # 1 Soup is often not just 'water with a hint of vegetables'. It's full of vegetables, sometimes pasta, or even potatoes, little balls of ground beef, etc. Soup can be a full meal.

Coffee is just the culture. I myself don't drink coffee (my heart doesn't agree with it). But I had to type out a barista course once, when I worked at a hotel school. Apparently, most countries have their own proportions for coffee. Ours is the exact same ration coffee/water as the Italians have. I'm not sure whether the Dutch have slightly stronger or weaker coffee. But I know Americans have the same amount of coffee we use for like 50 or 70 ml, and then top it off with 125 ml. So, it's coffee with an extra serving of 'just hot water'. I found that interesting.
My dad found it frustrating, when he lived in Canada. Said they come by with coffee refills in diners, because you'd need to drink 4 to actually have a proper amount of coffee. Coffee and poo are best friends. So yeah... being 'not fat' and drinking lots of coffee is not a weird thing.

1. Yes. And also... Dutch/Flemish is closer to English than it is to french. It's easier for us to switch, and to learn. There's cultural differences between the Flemish and Walloons. We are 'a country'. But at the same time, we're just a random strip of land, at the crossing of several cultures. And someone decided to place borders around it. Culturally, it would make much more sense to split. But you know... what d'ya gonna do, right?

2. The weather is safe. We all know about it. We all have an opinion. And talking about it, keeps us from talking about eachother, and ourselves. Politics aren't generally a good topic for casual lunchtime conversation.
   You might also find soccer is a 'general conversation topic'. Or stupid shows on TV. But the weather is simple. You don't have to put in the effort. It's 'easy, enjoyable social interaction', with the lowest of effort or friction.

1. It is typical from flemish. In holland you have the gkass of milk with the bread.
2. We were on the wool pipeline in the middleage. We have an overchoice of dresses, si we go foe simplicity.
3. Our medical system is one if the best of the world. Among others, we dont allow sugar in each and every meal, like in usa. So soda and chocolate are our main source of sugar.
4. Belgium is a wet country. Belgium is born if the rain. It is part of our identity .
5. The language problem is historical. Deutch invaded us when we were a brand new country. France sent its army to help us. So our first king married a french princess. The cour decided of all political matter, and rhe cour was french speaking. So both walloon and flemish had to learn french ir be scorned. Walloon language pretty died. Flemish language survived and came back with a revenge. Politicians heavily used language for scapegoat.

A few years ago, some American friends were visiting. We walked from their hotel to my favourite fry shop, and I essentially ordered them one of everything to try. After a while, they started wondering how I eat this stuff every week without getting fat.

I told them it’s because unlike the US, my city doesn’t have car-centric infrastructure around the fry shops. It’s genuinely a bad idea to drive a car in the inner city, so I don’t, and that often means walking or cycling instead. I have to walk 15 minutes to the fry shop, and then 15 minutes to get back home, and it’s really hard to get fat if your weekly friet met stoofvleessaus always comes with 30 minutes of light exercise.

Many belgians are skinny fat without knowing it, obese people don’t always look fat. The body composition matters and visceral fat is less obvious than subcutaan (above muscle mass).

If you want an answer to point 4, you can check out this video https://youtu.be/GR8HgPQbbEg?si=f0v6ND3h5s8PEAQh It explains why the language divide exists and as you will see it has deep roots.

Boterham is love, boterham is life. Learn to love the boterham lunch and only one hot meal per day. Lots of coffee too.

From a French person that became Belgian later in life, in 2009.
Belgian people are really laid back.
That's why Belgium became my country of heart, even though I am born French.
French people are a lot more sophisticated, aggressive, demanding. I can't say exactly which one, but there is really a difference.

On the language matter, and that is a delicate point about which everyone is pissed in Belgium.

First, congrats to Flemish people that learn French because it's a very difficult language and you usually speak it very well.
On the French side... I don't know why, but Dutch classes are usually bad. Even people that have learned it for four or six years can barely say anything else than Goeden Dag .
All Dutch learners from French origin I talked to totally hate the fact the verbs often go at the end of the sentence.
(I don't but I learned German when I was 9)

Now, the motivation. French is not the most spoken language in the world, but I think it might be in fourth or sixth position, I don't know.
Dutch, apart from half of Belgium, the Netherlands, and a part of South Africa, isn't that much spoken.
French people are kind of lazy, especially in learning languages.
So learning a language that is not that much spoken in the world seems to them a waste of time and effort.

My totally unpopular opinion, (I don't care it's unpopular, it's mine) is this one:
Flemish people stop bothering learning French. It's a difficult language to learn, it's difficult to pronounce, still more difficult to spell, and it takes a lot of time.
French people stop altogether to learn Dutch.
Everyone focus their learning efforts in speaking good English from childhood.
I don't know why that opinion is unpopular, but it is mine.

Troll ?

I don't feel like you have a clue what 'Belgium' looks and feels like. Kind of looks like you are biased by one location/company/building and think we are all the same way..

I'm suspect of the 1 day old account. Text doesn't read AI though because of spelling mistakes. Still sus.

1. I am Dutch , and you are describing Dutch lunch. We think Belgian lunch is elaborate because they 'll also put in a bit of lettuce.... but the real answer is: Dinner is the main meal of the day. It's also complicated to cook a full lunch if you have just a 30 minute break at work...

2. Coffee doesn't make you fat at all. Too many soft drinks does, but we either go to the gym, or have light drinks, or both.

3. It has historic roots: in the 19th century the French speaking part of Belgium was more developed and the Flemish elite spoke French. Dutch was looked down upon. This resulted in an emancipation struggle for equal rights. If you ask me they have gotten their equal rights a long time ago and they are now going overboard with all those separate governments and language borders and political parties and whatnot. Current Flemish nationalist parties are often borderline (or just straightforward) racist, hating Musliims, hating foreigners.

4. I thought that was our national hobby in NL, but maybe Belgium does the same. The weather is quite often unpleasant and unpredictable , so it's a nice safe filler topic.

re point 2 you obviously haven't spent much time in downtown Antwerp.

Antwerp is a fashion hot spot, Belgians in general spend a lot on clothes, spending money on good quality brands. You'll see virtually every major high end brand will have a shop in both Antwerp and Brussels (Dior, Gucci etc etc) as well as some superb Belgian designers.

Belgians also buy some of the most avant garde eye wear (and footwear) in Europe

as a person from flanders i think that every flemish person hating on the french language is just too stupid to learn it. its not that hard.

Aee you from the us per chance?

1)Many good answers already here for this one, but for me it's also because if i eat a hot big lunch i fall asleep at work in the early afternoon. So apart from the fact i like to eat bread and sandwhiches, it also doesn't give me the after lunch dip in energy that a full hot meal would.

2)Most people don't care that much and for work/normal free time casual clothes are fine. Many men generally also don't like going clothes shopping so they go in 1-2 stores and buy in bulk what they need :D
At least that's the case with most of my friends, there's of course differences all around. I think the general attitude of belgians is to not be too crazy/wild in life and it's also in part reflected in every day clothing for many.

3)Coffee is life, unless you really overdo it it's just a nice drink that helps wake you up a bit in the morning.

4)Lots of history there, i think people not so much hate the walloons or the french individually. I think it's more that generations of being opressed culturally by the big french neighbour and french speaking elites in the country led to political battles after WW2. These made belgium into the complex political system it is today. So with that in mind, there are some people in flanders who still see french a bit as a language of the opressor or at the very least as a language/culture we need to push back on to keep our own flemish culture. This however is, especially today, not something every flemish person supports/finds important but about 45% of people did vote for flemish nationalist parties. Some basics: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taalstrijd_in_Belgi%C3%AB

5)Small talk is important to make connections, the weather is THE small talk topic of choice for us.

OP, out of curiosity, where do you come from ?

I mean, your opinion on coffe and overweight people tells me you're from USA but I'm not sure.

I almost never see a fat person it's like 2 fat person for every 30/40 people, given that being so healthy and everything, why do most of them drink a lot of coffee in a day ? And also lots of soft drinks like cola, fanta etc? How do you stay fit and healthy despite drinking all these ?

Who says we are fit, most people barely eat anything

I wonder why so many people think that coffee is unhealthy. I was always told thst, drinking 2 cups of coffee a day is correlated with quite some health benefits

Weather is small talk. It is commonly accepted . Like the Americans ask , how are you’, but don’t expect an answer. For us it is the weather.

The French is complex and likely older generations suffer from it more then younger, personally don’t give a fuck either way, some of my best colleagues and friends were from the south as I was from the north and we got along fine. However there is history there and let’s say not the nicest behaviour in the past. Read why there is a Leuven and a new Leuven, ergo louvain la neuve :)

Same clothing, I can speak for myself and just wear black t shirts in general so it might or might not be the same clothing 🤗🤣

I moved to (west) Flanders nearly 1 years ago from the UK. Where do you move from?

OK, so the Belgian fashion world and Belgian reddit exist in too very different silos.

Nobody shop regularly in Bellerose or Essentiel Antwerp? buy eye wear at theo?

No fans of Lucid Collective? ARTE?

1. Convenience, habit and budget I guess. Bread is just the most common food you can find here, my lunch habits date back to my school days and kind of never really changed. And I don't like to spend my hard earned money on expensive lunches at the office during work days. Boring? Yeah, a little bit. How does it fill your stomach? Most people I know have big home-cooked evening meals after work, so we're good.

2. Many Belgian men buy new clothes only when they have to (or when their moms or wives tell them to). So yeah they will show up in the same outfit quite often. Everyday clothing is just more of a a functional thing instead of a status or fashion thing to them.

I almost never see a fat person it's like 2 fat person for every 30/40 people

You must be coming from a very fat country then, because obesity is a big problem here.

why do most of them drink a lot of coffee in a day ? And also lots of soft drinks like cola, fanta etc? How do you stay fit and healthy despite drinking all these ?

What's a lot? I don't personally think I drink a lot of coffee and certainly not soft drinks.

Why do most of you guys just eat few slices of bread with meat slice(both looks dry) for lunch for almost everyday ? Sometimes I even see few of my colleagues just drink a soup for the lunch.

It's quick and easy.

Don't you guys like the lunch at all ?

I mean, I don't particularly care about eating either way? To me it's just something you need to do.

Why do most of the men wear the same dress almost everyday? Is it you have 5 sets of same dress and wear each one a day or is it just the same dress ?

See above, it's quick and easy and most people don't particularly care.

1 and 2 I disagree with you, I don’t know many people who always eat the same for lunch and I know no one who wears the same fit every day. 3 I don’t think u get fat from just coffee and soft drinks, since most of our lives are pretty healthy. 4 it is indeed because of complicated history with the languages and borders. 5 I think all of us dislike the weather because it does rain a lot.

Je mange 4x par semaine des tartines et le soir je bouffe 3x par semaine des frites avec de la mayonnaise.

Fat people? Tu compares avec qui ou quoi? C'est pas Auschwitz non plus ici.

Je m'habille classique, mes vêtements sont propres. Oui j'ai 6 x le même pantalon brun et 4x le même jean dans ma penderie. Carnaval ce n'est qu'une semaine par an et alors c'est une autre histoire! Mais ca je ne vais pas pendre à ton nez.

Why do you fight over the language so much? Is this ragebait? 😅

1. most cultures love food and family, low lands culture hates both

2. basically: practical > stylish . Look at the average belgian house, it's quite ugly but does the job well. There are instagram pages dedicated to ugly belgian houses lol

3. Go to wallonia. You will see.

4. We don't 'hate' french speaking per se, we just don't like that's its assumed we have to speak it when we can both speak english, or that french speakers act rude when you try to speak english with them

5. Because it sucks :(

1. I visited Belgium for a week last year. I noticed most of the food was very fresh. I imagine that would have something to too with it.

1 and 3 is probably connected. If you don't eat a lot you can handle a couple of soft drinks a day.

I don't eat that anymore. 2 hot meals won't kill you but due to getting fatter I had to cut back to one meal a day.

2: its easy. Why not do it? Is this different in other countries?

4 we used to be made to speak French at school, court, other things. The French speaking elite thought Dutch was a peasant language that had to be exterminated. We obviously don't like that.

5 we like to complain. The weather is an easy subject.

Flemish love French

1) I have a great bakker which makes super yummy bread and a very good beenhouwer which makes great preparé. Never gets bored. Like most Belgians we cook for supper and one hot meal a day is sufficient. Lunch soup is great in winter, it fills enough to still your hunger

2) Convenience I suppose. I mostly wear blue jeans and plaid shirts - same look but not the same clothes. If I go shopping and if pants fit me really well I dare to buy 3-4 pairs.

3) most Belgians tend to eat quite healthy (freshly cooked produce) and portions are not enormous. I don't know many people who constantly drink soft drinks. We like a good Caffeine shot to stay awake (real coffee, not that Starbucks drab). Most Belgians do some form of sports and we do a lot of biking/walking.

4) yep - learn about Flanders' history and you'll understand.

5) Belgians always need to complain about something - but without stepping on someone's toes...

Good bread isn’t dry + we put butter or margarine on it :) 

1. few slices of bread is not typical Belgian, I have a lot of colleagues who go pay their lunch outside 10 times more expensive than the corporate provided lunch just to have some tasty food
2. men with dresses? I guess same outfit? Who cares? Never have I noticed or been interested to notice.

rest of questions, just ask in person and they’ll answer

1. Only bread truly fills the Flemish stomach. If I have a hot meal, I will eat a sandwich after it just to fill me up.

2. There is a certain subclass of Flemish people who really like order and predictability. Five days in the week? Five sets of clothing. Makes sense.

3. Yeah coffee is not like American style lattes. But we are still fatter than Italians, but they have cigarettes and black coffee for breakfast. We at least put some sugar in it and eat our sandwiches.

4. Flemish mainly don't like speaking French because it is generally a one way street. It's less common for a French speaker to know Flemish so that kind of annoys us.

5. Most of us suck at small talk.

Your point 3 is answered in the point 1. Belgians eat only one warm meal per day, specially the Flemish

1. boterhammen & soup <3
   
2. yes
   
3. see question 1
   
4. because the french dudes were oppressive
   
5. because politics is a bit tricky. See question 4.

1) Belgian law forbids us from having more than 1 hot meal per day. So most people prefer to have a hot meal in the evening with their family. 2) it's funny you would say that; they are the same clothes but each day actually a different person is wearing them (cunningly disguised of course). 3) we spend half our day running away from the tax man! We need the coffee to stay alert and avoid additional taxes; and the energy from sugary drinks fuels our escape. 4) this is a great tragedy. We used to be french-speakers and dutch-speakers living in harmony; until Napoleon forced all french-speakers to move to the south of the country and all dutch-speakers to the north. It ripped many families apart, and we still feel the consequences to this day. 5) this is a cunning Belgian code - talking about the weather actually means the belgian has great feelings of friendship towards you, that he is legally not permitted to express.

Only wrong answers, obviously... Happy new year all!

3 is answered in 1.

1. Not everyone is fashion queen. By one, second is free is popular here. :)

2. Is totally messed up. It is not unusual in Flanders speak French, English, Dutch and local dialect. Actually it is Wallonia having difficulties speak anything but French.

3. So, you are ok to hike, cycle and work in garden at any weather? And commute on bicycle in the snow and/or rain? But not all of us here are ironmen as you.

1. If you buy decent bread it's not dry. I was brought up with eating 'boterhammen' and whatever was put on there (cheese, chocolate spread, speculoos, jam, charcutrie etc), never tasted stale to me

2. Efficiency I guess, I don't really care for clothes

3. Sup, I'm one of those 2 I guess

4. I don't hate speaking French (though I didn't like french classes since it was all grammar). When Belgium was founded, the official language was only French for the first 60 years, roughly around 1890 Dutch was also official for documents and certain professions. This is partially why there's such a divide. If you wanted to become a doctor or laywer, you needed to be fluent in French, so it cut out part of the population. Wanted to have your voice heard in politics, same deal. And this kinda bs you still see to this day in Brussels.

5. Belgian weather is flip flop all the time so we like being cranky about it

1. Having lived abroad where lunch and dinner are treated nearly the same, I get it. Bread for lunch IS boring. But it's also easy, fast and cheap. It's a remnant of less abundant times I think. For most Belgians, lunch is just a moment to get in some quick calories and recharge for the afternoon, it definitely doesn't hold as much value as dinner does. Also there are companies that offer proper dinner during the lunchbreak, which a lot of people take up because it saves them the hassle of having to cook themselves, but those people then usually end up eating bread in the evening (so basically they just switch lunch with dinner).
2. Not really an opinion on this. Maybe because business hierarchy is generally more horizontal here compared to Asia. The difference in status between bosses and their employees isn't as pronounced, so perhaps there's less pressure for an employee to look good for the company. Dress codes exist but aren't as strict. Honestly also depends very much on the job itself. I'm in IT and only very occasionally interact face to face with a customer, I can and do dress like a slob. But people in sales tend to dress pretty immaculate.
3. We still have an obesity problem, just less pronounced than some other countries. Young people tend to do pretty well in my experience, but there's a certain age cutoff somewhere around the thirties where suddenly it becomes a lot harder to come across people who aren't at least a little bit overweight.
4. Dutch is (besides Frisian which is an incredibly tiny group of niche languages spoken in small parts of the Netherlands and Germany) the language most closely related to English. Grammar and vocabulary are very similar. Additionally we were raised with a lot of American and British pop culture, so English comes much more naturally than French for most Flemish citizens. There is indeed some rivalry between the Flemish and the Walloon. It's partly history related, partly economically related and partly culture related. But there's huge individual differences in between Belgians how passionate they are about this.
5. I think it's kind of become a meme at this point which Belgians themselves love to reinforce. Our weather isn't great, but if I had to choose between the constantly gloomy, drizzly weather in Belgium, or the scorching heat and monsoons in India, I'd choose Belgian weather any time of the year.

Da’s nogal iets met dat weer he.

That’s quite something with that weather, eh?

1. and 3. can be answered the same way. Most working belgians and especially flemish poeple are "functional". Their main value is work, be efficient, follow the social rules. Only artist and elite have time and focus on pleasure, art, beauty, creativity, etc... 80% of the people just want a house, a fixed contract, a car, an IKEA living room and a repetitive routine. Bread tartines is easy, cheap and efficient. Same clothes is easy, cheap and efficient.

Don't you guys like the lunch at all ?

I don't want to eat slices of bread with my wife in the evening, so I do it in the midday.

Won't you feel bored eating almost the same thing everyday?

Me? No. My french wife would rather varies the content of her bread but I don't mind, especially at work.

And also lots of soft drinks like cola, fanta etc? How do you stay fit and healthy despite drinking all these ?

I drink water or hot chocolate. Soft drinks are for if I really need sugar, or because we're celebrating.

being a small country why do you guys fight over the language so much ?

Long story short : because us French people treated them like cr@p back when the South was the rich part.

Why do you guys always bring about the weather in any topic being discussed?

... What do you want us to speak about otherwise? It's one of the rare subjects that won't risk issues taking a stance.

Re. the clothes: Belgium is actually a major player in fashion, with several top international fashion schools in Antwerp and Brussels. But I feel like this is better known outside the country than in Belgium itself!

Bait

Personally I buy the same clothes every 3 or 4 years I hate shopping so I buy them online they are comfortable and practical I don't care how it looks military pants with black t-shirt underwear and a black hoodie or my leather jacket paired with some leather military boots it's cheap and durable

warning: flemish perspective

1. usually we put some sauce with our sandwiches, so it isn't just bread + meat. Also we feel like breakfast and dinner are the 2 most important meals

2. if you like an outfit on yourself, you wear it a lot

3. due to eu and belgian regulations most of even our "unhealthy" foods/drinks aren't that bad

4. yeah pretty much. Some flemish people want to make flanders independant/make it join the Netherlands. Also English is seen as a language that has a lot of status, thus, if you can speak it, you are "better". This used to be the case with French.

5. We find the weather to be bad. It rains a lot, and is generally miserable in the winter months.

hope this helps :3

1. I understood from the comments you’re Indian. I also have some Indian colleagues and was really astonished by how much effort you guys put into lunch. Making chapati in the morning, cooking a curry, .. it made me feel a bit lazy for just grabbing a slice or 2 of bread and some cheese.

2. I don’t feel that men are dressed the same every day. But on the other hand i couldn’t care less what my colleagues are wearing so I probably wouldn’t even notice if they wore the same thing all year round.

3. I know right? Even as a Belgian I’m always curious how people do it. Eat a lot of junk, drink a lot of soft drinks and don’t gain any weight… me on the other hand I just need to look at a package of fries and I gain 5 kilos. Guess it’s something genetic as well. (Btw bread is really horrible in that sense, since it’s a high in carbs so only adds to the mystery).

4. We don’t hate French, we just don’t want to be mistaken for Walloons (just a joke). But jokes aside we’re a small country and a lot of the bigger companies have English as primary language. I’ve been speaking English on a daily basis for over 10 years now, but I have never had a need to speak French.

5. We don’t like to talk about our feelings. Plus the weather is considered a “safe” topic it doesn’t involve politics, religious views, etc. In general you could say Belgians are known for avoiding conflicts in a professional context. I.e. I’ve worked for a Dutch company a few years, and it was quite a difference compared to working in Brussels. If someone would wear a pink glitter jacket during a meeting in the Netherlands at least 8 out of 10 colleagues would say something about it, while we just say “oh, it’s raining again”. (And probably would tell our wives at home “moejenuwatweten???”)

About the first: we just like bread and don't find it boring at all. :)
I keep trying to explain it to my Indian wife, who comes from of a culture where everybody is almost pathologically obsessed with food and if it's not an explosion of 25 spices it's not considered food.
Same with the soup, which is indeed often my lunch.

Your body really only needs one big meal a day, and then soup and bread are easy fillers after or before that big meal.

I’m not a Belgian, but the answer to the majority of your questions is: because people enjoy it. What is so hard to understand?

1. Holdover from the wartime, the mentality of "one warm meal a day" stuck
   
2. Men wear one thing, get complimented, wear it 1000x more times. Buy the same one again if it breaks.
   
3. idk
   
4. Deep-rooted hatred for the French-speaking half, part because of their oppression of Flanders historically, and a whole host of other reasons that goes on and on
   
5. It's an easy conversation piece. After a while it's just noise.

Belgian here. I’ve been living abroad for a while, and I’m used to eating two hot meals a day. When I was living in Belgium, I never got used to the fact that most people ate bread with industrial cold cuts and cheese, and that I was expected to eat the same, even though I simply didn’t enjoy it. Soup was basically the only thing I liked. I know some people get offended when this is said, but even if this way of eating is more practical and time-efficient, it still feels objectively less satisfying than actually cooking proper hot meals twice a day, like in many other food cultures.

As a French woman, I've always been well received by both the Flemish and the Walloons. Perhaps both sides have a problem with each other, but I don't really know if it's the language that's the issue. However, an old Belgian acquaintance from Namur told me that she was once visiting Belgian Flanders, and a man was very pleasant to her, despite his rather poor Dutch, and he understood perfectly well that she was a native French speaker. But he became insulting towards her when he learned that she was from Wallonia.

Have you tried speaking French? Then have you tried speaking French with a French person? English is a lot easier.

3 and 1 combined kind of cancel each other out since each is an answer to the other: It's also how we fit so much beer into our diet: just eat less other stuff and the macro works out.

2: yes, we find something our wife/gf likes and that's it -> efficient

4: is this a bait question or have you actually not googled how deep the language difference goes?

5: because it's better than bringing up question 4 as a topic; keep politics out of our 8-16:30 so we can all have and index-adjusted existance.

1. LOL I'm Canadian and this is normal in Canada too, so I thought discussing the weather was just international. Maybe that's why I like it here so much 😅

1. Even though we live in a small country, cultures differ a lot between different provences and languages (and even dialects). I live with Walloons and Luxembourgish people throughout the week and if you're not used to them (Walloons), I could for sure see the annoyance/'hate'. They're in my experience a bit louder and dirtier than their Flemish counterparts, though not all of them. You have to experience it to get it tbh.

I found a method to deal with the food situation. Shift the day one meal backward, then you have dinner during lunch, and can have another dinner later.

1) of I eat too much for lunch I fall asleep. Dinner is the main dish here

2) I have a few clothes that are my favorite. And yes sometimes I buy more of the same stuff if I like it. Clothing is more practical for me than a fashion statement.

3) people are getting more fat by the decades. I noticed the difference the best when going to a swimming pool. We are not USA fat, but overweight is also an issue here, same like diabetes.

4) I am born and raised in east Flanders and I don't hate french at all. I see myself more as Limburger and Belgian than Flemish to be honest.

5) it is often wet and grey in Belgium. But climate change made our summers dryer than before.

“3. ⁠I almost never see a fat person it's like 2 fat person for every 30/40 people, given that being so healthy and everything, why do most of them drink a lot of coffee in a day ? And also lots of soft drinks like cola, fanta etc? How do you stay fit and healthy despite drinking all these ?”

That’s not true. Except if you are from USA or Mexico, Belgium is not a country with specifically less of fat/obese people than in other Western countries. For example France, Italy, Spain, have less obese people than Belgium.

That’s true though for lots of soft drinks like Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Fanta but I think it is true globally for all Americanized countries.

And lots of coffee it is not false it is a popular drink for active people but not more than in Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other European countries (Except UK with tea culture).

@4- French simply is a difficult language, and most people are "forced" to learn it at school while people in Wallonia actually have a choice and don't have to learn Dutch at school

English, just like Dutch, is a Germanic language while French is part of the "Romance" languages, so it is relatively easy to learn compared to French, and alot of people from Wallonia don't know Dutch at all and often don't even understand English at all

We also generally like to complain about stuff especially if it's something we don't like, which also is a reason for nr. 5 and why alot of people "hate" French

1. As opposed to what, bro? Going out to a restaurant for lunch? Stuff here costs 20 - 35 euro when you eat out.

2. Most guys have more than 5 shirts, they just come in the same color and store brand. Usually chosen for comfort.

3. There are fat dudes and fat chicks. You just gotta live in the city.

4. That's polite way of saying "you are boring and we have nothing in common".

1/ that’s plenty for lunch! Chose one warm meal a day. It can be lunch but the you eat bread and soup for dinner. 2/ there’s probably slight changes that may go unnoticed. Average Belgians dress relatively nice but always in muted colors. 3/ see #1. Smaller portions! Also more walking and biking every day. 4/ lots of history there. Mandatory as you grow up to learn the other languages of the country. I recently visited the home country and was surprised how much English is spoken, and how English has snuck into the Flemish language. 5/ the constant grey weighs on you. Even when the sun shines, there is still no blue sky. The weather is always a good topic, in most places of the world. No difference in Belgium.

Keep enjoying your time there. Try to learn some of the Flemish language, and the culture. There’s so much to see and do!

Well I am from outside too, I didn't even know they are doing this. Guess what, I mind my own fucking business! No culture has ever born into this world that can shock me even a bit.

1. Bread has been a staple for breakfast and lunch. Usually people add something to make it less dry, like margarine or butter. Younger people tend to et less bread for breakfast and lunch since there are so many alternatives. But packing a lunch consisting of bread and meat or cheese is still one of the cheaper options. You can go out to eat at noon for lunch but the options you have tend to be expensive and have more calories.

2. Only women are required to wear a new outfit every day. It’s a law or something. Ask my wife. Us men, we don’t give a f*ck because we can’t be bothered to have 5 outfits sitting around, unless we are in a managing position at a high end corporate job. And even then you don’t change outfits daily. Working class people are there to work, not to run the catwalk. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t shower or chnge underwear, but a jeans should last you a whole workweek.

3. On average, Belgian food has less processed options than the US. The more processed your food is, the more of this shit you will eat. People in Belgium might have fast food but the average meal is still potatoes/pasta, veg and meat/fish/vegetarian. You can take your lifestyle to any extremes, but I just think it’s easier to do so when fast food becomes as cheap as going grocery shopping and cooking your own dinner, especially in a household with multiple people.

4. Several factors have contributed to the fact that the Flemish hate Walloons and Walloons hate the Flemish. Historically, money has been flowing in one direction, politics are different, and it can feel like north and south are two different countries. It’s an afterproduct of the war. It makes Belgium impossible to govern. Also, while most Flemish people have mastered both English and French, which they learned in school, almost no Walloons have mastered Dutch, which is not taught by default in schools there. They don’t even try to speak Dutch but expect you to be a fullblown French speaker when you go there or you get the stink eye. And then there’s Brussels, the part of Belgium that is supposed to be bilingual, but only if you work a corporate job there. Otherwise you are probably an immigrant that speaks some French, maybe some English, and mostly some arabic language.

5. We talk about the weather because it’s standard go to conversation. We don’t want to talk with you about personal stuff. Belgians are friendly but reserved. You save the real talk for your friends only. Any other place you go conversation should be about the weather. If you go to a bar, the rules are you open with the weather, after which you are allowed to shit on politics or talk about soccer, or football and they call it in England. Once you are drunk enough you are allowed to shift conversations occasionally, and you can debate which brand of beer is the best. But every Belgian religiously drinks his brand of pils beer, and every bar has his own brand they serve on tap, so thread carefully. When leaving the pub/bar you used to be required to eat fries or döner kebab, but since covid, it’s hard to find a place that’s open that late, unless you’re in a big city.

From your description I recognize a more flemish (or Brussels) environment. The resentment between flemish and Wallon people is related to : - the creation of Belgium in 1830, made to separate Netherlands, France and Germany so they stop fighting - the fact that in the beginning, aristocracy wast French speaking - until the fall of coal mines, wallonia was richer. Situation is inverted since the tertiarisation of the Belgian economy. - flemish people speak other languages more easily (partly because there are rarely dubbed movies and TV shows, they are mainly subtitled) and they ressent walloon people for not "making the effort". From my personal experience : I've learned Dutch through all of primary and secondary school and still wasn't able to maintain a conversation. I had extra lessons from my first employer and still wasn't autonomous. It was only when I was hired in a 90% flemish environment that I've become bilingual. Immersion is the key.

Won't you feel bored eating almost the same thing everyday?

I always feel bored with eating, why wouldn't I? It's a thing you gotta do to function, it's not a hobby.

Mind you every culture is different & we all have our own habits However people are different even in the same culture That’s why imo I find it difficult to explain and defend my culture and my personal habits that are different from what you say Embrace our culture and enjoy it more than question it Where are you from 🤔

We take our daily bread very seriously. The bakery down the street might have ...30 types of fresh bread meant for sliced bread sandwiches. Very juicy. And because we eat a lot of it, it doesn't go dry. My household does about 1 800 gram bread per working day and I get it fresh every morning. (Well, sometimes I get two for two days of a type that stays good longer and store it in a cool and dark special compartment in my pantry) It's a thing... But mostly it's just very easy and fast to prepare in the morning and incredibly cheap. If you make your own sandwiches it's like a euro and you've eaten. Do that every day of your working life instead of a 12 euro cantine lunch or a 7 euro store bought sandwich and you can buy a small appartement..

Walloons hate the flemish and vice versa. This is because in the 1800's, during the industrial revolution. Wallonia was REALLY RICH. Like, Wallonia was the second heart of the industrial revolution, next to England. THAT RICH. The elite all wanted to speak french to feel important and the flemmish, coming from only farmlands, migrated to Wallonia to look for work. That is why you see a whole bunch of walloons with Flemmish surnames, today. There was also a lot of money being sent from Wallonia to Flanders. Both being in the same country.

Fast forward 100 - 150 years. Industrial Revolution has simmered down. Walloon factories are shutting down and wallonia is filled with empty factory ruins. Look at places like Marchienne-au-Pont in Charleroi, they're all still there. Having not so fertile ground in the Ardennes like in Flanders, the walloons can't get any farmlands and are now suffering from a low job market.

Right now. Flanders is sending money to Wallonia. So the problems is both. Walloons refuse to speak Dutch when they see Flemmish people and think Flanders owns them. And the Flemmish tgink Wallonia is a money drain and they should start to speak dutch when they encounter them. Really stupid fued, really.

I'm Flemmish and I love the Walloons.

In this sub, there’s often discussion about how much the Belgians differ from the Dutch. As a Dutchman, I can say all points apply to us as well. So maybe we are not that different after all…

1. Long history, their was a Roman ‘highway’ from French coast to Germany. Southern part better farming ground/soil=> more business and trade. French/Latin was elite language for elite trading people… etc…

I'm not answering unless I have some perspective about your own background, specifically where you're from. You're really curious yet do not share any context on what you think would be normal given where you come from. You're basically calling us weird without giving any information about where you come from and what would be considered normal there, so that we could have an honest discussion about habits and how strange they could be for each other.

1. The bread isn't your main question, but rather the repetitiveness of the same meal right? To that I can say we're creatures of habit, and most of us make our lunch in the morning before leaving for work to eat at noon. So we make something quick and easy, like a sandwich with simple bread and "hespeworst" or "salami", general "charcuterie" stuff. It's quick, it's convenient (you'll see this word a lot in my explanation), and relatively cheap. Plus it's healthier than Nutella.

2. That's more a men thing than general fashion here, I imagine for most men it's to look "professional" at work. So they buy 5 identical shirts and wear those to work, it's easy and convenient, you don't have to figure out what you're gonna wear in the morning before going to work.

3. We walk and bike a lot, most of our cities are built around pedestrians and bikes rather than cars, for example Gent. Hellhole for a car, easy and convenient for a pedestrian. People walk from their home to the bus or train station, get off at the nearest stop or station and walk to work for 5-10 minutes, it's easy and convenient that way. However, many of us are still overweight, at least according to the BMI index. We're just more active and less likely to eat processed junk food like Americans. We instead eat our regular, artisanal junk food like a kebab, Turkish pizza or Durum from the Turkish shop around the corner from our job, if we're not having a "boterham met salami" at least.

4. The only reasons Flemish speakers dislike the walloons, is because of 2 things, historically French was the language of the elites and Flemish was seen as a "farmer's language". 2nd is politics, parties like Vlaams Belang and N-VA are very popular and like to hammer on the idea that Flemish taxpayer money goes into Wallonia to sustain its unfortunately more unemployed population and failing industries. There's also a secret third reason that French is a hard language to learn for Germanic language speakers and many Flemish people still resent getting bad grades for French in high-school.

5. The weather is easy to complain about, it's usually rainy, somewhat cold and depending on your city, windy as well. Nobody enjoys walking through a grey, wet, rainy street to work so nobody will be offended or anything if you complain about it.

I’d say :

1. The Tartine/Boterham culture is strong. According to my opinion it’s a mix between an economical option, short noon break time and cultural because we tend to eat more at the supper/evening and keep it light during the day ( sometimes accompanied with other small meals at 10am and 3-4pm). It doesn’t look that good but you can really up the game with great bread, some sauce (also very Belgian culture) and some vegetables. I personally like eating this at noon because it makes me less sleepy during the afternoon (compared to hot meals).

2. It’s totally personal but I was raised in a family where we valued more having few high quality clothing pieces that you use more rather than going for fast fashion (Zara,H&M, Primarkt,…) clothes that lasts you 3 months and look bad (garnement quality, fit,..) It’s both more economical and practical (last longer and less bulk). Even if the top layer clothe is the same, the shirt and undershirt are regularly changed. I’m a male so I don’t know for woman but I think it’s also valid. Also I think the clothing culture is less formal than other countries (France, UK) and we historically had the Sunday clothes that was the nice outfit, the rest was practical day to day wear.

3. Despite what your saying, obesity rate is rising at quite an alarming rate. as you described, the use of soda and fast-food is correlated. I’m also shocked seeing how many medics drink coke on their day to day basis. However drinking black coffee actually helps reducing diabetes risks and doesn’t have any calories in. I’d also like to point out that obesity is much more prone in lower socio-economic classes, so depending on your status you might not see too many of them but they do exist.

4. The language barrier has been a « problem » for quite a long time but I think the younger generation cares less about it that what’s actually said in the media. The language is also political because French is associated with Wallonia. And Wallonia has a higher unemployment rate, contributes less (than flanders) to the federal economy and stuff. But I’d argue (as a Walloon) that it’s not quite fair that most of the Flemish people speak fluently French (+english) while it’s not the case the other way around and I find it quite sad being obliged to speak English with my Flemish friends because it’s more convenient (despite having spent 12 years at school learning Dutch).

This language dilemma has been there since the creation of Belgium and shifted from sides to sides (Wallonia was once richer with the steel and coal mining, flanders had a golden epoch with textile and trading). And separatists movements have existed but never really wanted to rally to France or the Netherlands, I’ve interpreted this as a sign of the Belgian spirit and unity of the people after all. As I said before I think it’s more a political issue than a sociological one, I’m proud that we have more than one official language and I think it’s a great chance to grow up in a « shared space » country, teaching you to respect differences at the early age and also making you less offended or more prone to laugh about the weird and surrealistic situations that can happen here. I think it makes us more joyful, less stressed about the world.

1. Weather is not bad but not great either, the seasons aren’t that differentiated and the sky is often gray with a light drizzle. We often say that you can have all four seasons in one day and I think that’s what people complain about the most. We crave weather stability in this country ( I think it’s mostly due to the fact of being close to the sea, making the climate quite volatile)

Hope this helps ! And cheers, I’m glad people find great things about Belgium too !

Every culture has tendencies that typically reflect the values of the society but may look odd to others. Looking forward to reading the responses, as I love visiting Belgium and found many aspects of the culture endearing.

I went to the states a few times and most of the food thay we tries out were like -at least- 1200-1700 kcal. That’s almost what a grown man overhere takes in during a whole day. Needless to say I gained like 5 kg in one week.