Turbot+Waterzooi

Waterzooi Waterzooi is a stew-like dish that first originated in Ghent, Belgium. This dish is super popular and will probably be seen on our trip. Waterzooi uses the many ingredients normally found that area. It consists of a soup base made of egg yolks, cream, and a thick vegetable broth. The vegetables in the soup include carrots, leeks, onions, and potatoes. Fish that are used in the dish include eel, bass, carp, and pike. Gentse Waterzooi van Tarbot, a variation of Waterzooi, is traditionally found in Ghent and contains turbot.

During the Renaissance, the channels and rivers in Ghent made it a very congested trading post. There were tons of fish in the rivers and one of the most common was turbot. Turbot is a large flatfish that is very popular in European countries and served as the main ingredient in this dish. However during World War II the channels of Ghent were polluted from all the bombings and now the fish are extremely scarce, in that area, so since the fish aren’t as plentiful as they were before, many more people have used chicken instead of the traditional fish. This decision is highly debated in Belgium because some people think that it is only a real Belgian Waterzooi if it contains fish. It is also debated about what fish makes a traditional Waterzooi.