Food in Belgium perceived as foreign

While my other page definitely contained food that came from elsewhere, we all generally consider it local food. This page is instead dedicated to food traditions which are still perceived as foreign to some degree. There's a moderate selection of cuisines here, and the way these have been transformed on their way here and adapted to our tastes since is quite interesting. I'm focusing on fastfood again, of course.

Italian

Spaghetti Bolognaise (we spell it in a French manner, contrary to the Spaghetti Bolognese of the English world) is a dish that is still perceived somewhat as Italian, but has also become a staple of Belgian cuisine by now. Families usually have it in their weekly repertoire and pretty much every ordinary eatery serves it.

It probably originated from the actual Italian dish Ragù alla Bolognese (though what constitutes authentic Italian cuisine is often debated), adapted by immigrants (in either Britain or the US) to local ingredients and tastes. The dish then evolved as it spread to the rest of the world.

As I know it, it consists of a sauce of onion, carrots, garlic, canned tomatoes, and minced meat, poured over spaghetti, and topped with generous amounts of cheese.

Pizza

I've taken the menus of five pizzerias in neighboring towns and am listing the pizzas that appear on at least four of them. I've tried to make a representative mix of an ostensibly Italian pizzeria, two kebab joints that also serve pizza (very common), and two restaurants that serve pizzas in addition to their unrelated main cuisine.

• Margherita, Quattro Formaggi and Quattro Stagioni appear five times. They're definitely part of the modern Italian canon and require no introduction.
• Napolitana, which differs significantly from the officially recognized pizza napoletana. Anchovies are the defining feature here, but I have no clue why.
• Bolognese, which is a pizza topped with bolognese sauce, as described above.
• Funghi, Prosciutto, Frutti di Mare and Tonno are pizzas topped with mushrooms, ham, seafood, and tuna respectively, though the latter usually adds at least onions too. These are a fairly straightforward concept, using an Italian naming scheme to evoke authenticity. It's my understanding that these varieties are common in Germany as well.
• Vegetariana follows the same convention as the previous varieties, but the exact toppings of this vegetarian option tend to differ a lot depending on where you get it.
• Hawaii is the big one, the divisive one. It's Canada's controversial contribution to the pizza canon. And while I personally do not enjoy warm pineapple, I believe it is a perfectly valid and laudable option.

Chinese

The Dutch colonization of Indonesia led to Indonesian cuisine getting exported to the Netherlands. Chinese-Indonesian immigrants brought their fusion cuisine with them, and adapted their dishes to Dutch tastes. Owing to the local familiarity with these adapted dishes, later Chinese immigrants from other places stuck to that as Chinese takeaway developed. Flanders' close proximity to the Netherlands naturally influenced what sort of Chinese takeaway developed here.

Some typical dishes people here consider to be Chinese are listed below. These are often offered in fixed selections of small portions as a rijsttafel (rice table). I'm using the spelling I see in most local restaurants, because it differs a lot.

• Nasi goreng — fried rice (what it literally means), often with some egg and vegetables.
• Bami goreng — marinated fried noodles with meat and vegetables. In Indonesia it's actually known as mie or bakmi goreng, which itself is a Chinese-Indonesian adaptation of chow mein.
• Babi panggang — the Dutch version of this Indonesian dish consists of fried pork in sweet and sour sauce.
• Mifang or Mihoen refers to rice vermicelli, common in many Asian cuisines.
• Chop choy is a pretty bastardized spelling of cap cai, which is the Chinese-Indonesian adaptation of chop suey.
• Loempia, now written as lumpia in Indonesian, is a spring roll served as an appetizer. They were themselves introduced to Indonesia by Chinese settlers.
• Kroepoek, now written as kerupuk in Indonesian, are deep-fried crackers made of tapioca and shrimp.

The Dutch adaptations are generally greasier than their Indonesian originals. Dishes that do not contain rice or noodles are served with rice or french fries as a side. I don't know if the fries are a Dutch or a Belgian adaptation, haha!

Turkish

Belgium has a large Turkish community, but the kebab as we know it is actually a German invention. The döner kebab as we know was popularized in Germany by immigrant Kadir Nurman, as a pita bread sandwich containing the shavings of rotisserie meat. It eventually evolved further to adapt to local tastes, and spread to neighboring countries (like Belgium).

• Döner kebab — often just called a kebab. A flatbread sandwich with shaved meat, lettuce, onions, tomato, chili and sauce. It's my understanding that garlic sauce is the most common.
• Pita — while pita actually refers to the bread that's also used for döner kebab, somehow in the kebab joints I've been to it also refers to a different kind of meat filling for the sandwich (juicier slices instead of shavings).
• Dürüm — the same as the döner kebab, but as a rolled-up wrap instead.

Kapsalon

The Kapsalon (Dutch for hair salon) is a kebab shop staple that originates from the Netherlands, but due to its ubiquity here in Belgium as well as its fascinating origins, deserves its own little section.

The dish is topped with sambal sauce (a Dutch-Indonesian touch), and garlic sauce as seen before with kebab.

Fresh shredded lettuce is the absolute minimum of vegetables, though you'll often see onion as well.

Meat, usually shaved döner kebab, with cheese on top.

This and everything below it is usually heated by itself before the fresh ingredients and sauce get added, to ensure the cheese melts nicely.

The meat rests on top of french fries, which can get quite soggy by the time you eat them!

And it's all stacked in a tray.

This dish was originally a custom order that the late Tati Gomes, a hairdresser who emigrated from Cape Verde, regularly got at a kebab joint in the city of Amsterdam. When other customers started ordering the salon's dish, it got its name.

Its international fame is not solely limited to kebab shops in Belgium. It has seen some limited success in Germany and other European countries, but it apparently was also for some time a hype in some places in Nepal, Laos, and Indonesia.