I spent a day at Quartier Libre, a restaurant in Brussels near the European Parliament. With many office workers wanting a fast, high-quality, meal for lunch, Quartier Libre aims specifically at providing that. You walk in and seat yourself and pick up a small piece of paper from the table. Each person chooses four items from the paper by circling them and then putting them in a clip on the side of the table. The categories include meat, vegetable, grain, and other, but the only rule is that you get any four items for 13 euros.

During the month of September, I spent about a week working in a restaurant in Brussels, Belgium where I had gone to college. The restaurant is called Au Repos de la Montagne and has been there for over 50 years under various owners.

I spent a few years in Belgium during college and remember how much time I spent with my host family and friends around the table enjoying food. Now I'm back for two weeks to learn more about the food culture I lived in, but to which I paid little attention at the time.