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Belgian Café Culture

Belgian Café Culture – 5 year anniversary edition and Photo Expo

14th October 2021 by Regula Leave a Comment

I am thrilled to announce that in November 2021 my book “Belgian Café Culture” (Authentieke Belgische Cafés in Dutch) is getting a 5 year anniversary edition with a new cover! 

This book is a plea to carefully handle the fragile café heritage of Belgium. For too long have we taken these little cafés for granted. Not enough have we stopped to think about their history and their relevance in our culture. They are part of our social and cultural patrimony in Belgium. When I walk the streets, everywhere I look I see forgotten and lost cafés.

When I read in the papers that a much-loved café was going to close down I went to visit it, to talk to the people there who were about to lose their local. I was probably one of the last to document it. Nothing could be done; the owners of the building wanted to renovate the café and there is wind of a more hipster implementation. For this reason alone a lot of authentic cafés have had to go.

Although this heritage has always been staring me in the face, I only realised how fragile it is, and how important it is to preserve it, after taking a Belgian beer sommelier course which involved a lot of homework visiting cafés. The news of the closure of café Den Akker gave me the drive to do something about it in the only way I know how: by writing this book and documenting the importance of it.

But the need for modernisation is not the only reason why so many old Belgian cafés disappear. The ones that have been in the family for generations often disappear because there are no children who want to take over, or because no-one dares to take over an old-fashioned café. The cafés that have been closing in the last 5 years mostly become residential dwellings. All that remains are the memories of those who used to drink there.

A café can be the centre of a community, where people laugh and cry together over a glass of ale. Where disagreements are settled with words and sometimes with the fist. But where people often help those who are in need. Listen to those who would otherwise only have silence as a reply. Births and weddings are celebrated, but so are the dead.

Photo Exhibition in Antwerp

From 3 december until the end of januari you can visit the exhibition “Op Café” with Regula’s photo’s from the book at Luddites Books & Wine, first floor in Antwerp. For the occasion you will receive a complimentary Vintage 2016 Vintage Rodenbach with every purchase of her book. All books are signed by the author.

The book was featured by the BBC Radio 4’s The Food Program and on Radio 1 ‘De wereld van Sofie’.

Filed Under: Belgian Café Culture, My books, Personal Tagged With: my books

In memoriam: Leza van café ‘In de Welkom’ in Dworp

9th December 2017 by Regula Leave a Comment

Scroll down for English
8 december 2017 stierf Leza.
Leza was 66 jaar de kranige cafébazin van In de Welkom in Dworp. Haar echte naam was eigenlijk Barbara, maar iedereen noemde haar met veel genegenheid Leza. Het café was 110 jaar in de familie: de grootouders van haar reeds overleden echtgenoot, Michel Wouters, kochten het in 1906.  Michel was niet alleen cafébaas, hij was ook de laatste burgemeester van Dworp; vandaar dat het café soms ook ‘Bij den burgemeester’ wordt genoemd.
Als Michel burgemeester was dan maakte dat Leza de ‘first lady’ van Dworp, en dat was zij zonder twijfel.
Toen ik Leza voor het eerst ontmoette om haar verhaal vast te leggen voor mijn boek was ze net 90 geworden. Haar geliefde café stond overvol bloemen en enkele dagen ervoor werd ze in een oldtimer met open dak rondgereden in haar Dworp, begeleid door de zestig ‘Dworpse Bikers’ die elke zondag in haar cafeetje samenkwamen.

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Filed Under: Belgian Café Culture, Uncategorized Tagged With: Belgian Café Culture

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My Books: Pride and Pudding

My Books: Pride and Pudding

The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook

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Oats in the North, Wheat from the South

Oats in the North, Wheat from the South

The National Trust Book of Puddings

The National Trust Book of Puddings

Brits Bakboek (British Baking)

Brits Bakboek (British Baking)

Belgian Cafe Culture

Belgian Cafe Culture

Check out my husband’s ART

Check out my husband’s ART

Meet Regula

Meet Regula

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Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. Read More…

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