For starters, time changes and jet lag are no joke. I watched the sunset and the following sunrise on my first ever eight hour plane ride, before finally touching down in Brussels, Belgium. Hilde, our international relations assistant from the University of Gent, picked us up at the airport and escorted us to Gent and our hostel for a brunch of sorts. Every breakfast/brunch here at the hostel consists of the most wonderfully fresh bread with jelly on it (or chocolate sprinkles?), apples, and a cup of coffee, of course. This sounds extremely simple, but it is nice to find a whole community so content with the smallest things such as delicious simplistic breakfasts. This is slightly contradictory to my perspective on how Americans view breakfasts or just meals in general, which seems lustful for endless options and unnecessary in comparison. Another cultural difference I recognized before this adventure but did not understand the degree of is how little Europeans and Belgians in particular drive cars. Cars cannot even go down the street our hostel is on (which is central, downtown Gent) unless they have a particular license. Today I even learned that there are in fact more bikes in Belgium that people. Belgian bikers are also on a whole other level than any biker I have encountered at school in Fayetteville. They bob and weave throughout all the congested streets and pedestrians with such ease it is as if they were simply on their own two feet. Hilde actually rented us bikes that we picked up tonight, and it felt as if we were living in a movie as we rode down the narrow cobblestone alleys lined with multicolored old brick apartments. The glamorous movie feeling dissapated quickly as I had to dodge the trams and other bikers, but it is refreshing to see such a fit and active community. The healthiness is almost surprising in relation to the amount of alcohol and carbs (pizza and pasta) that Europeans consume. Also, the stereotype that Belgians consume an insane amount of chocolate and coffee is not an exaggeration. I thought that maybe it was only a first day celebration gift to us yesterday at the university, but even today between every lecture and during every break, coffee and chocolate were constantly refilled in the classroom.
Even though we have only just completed day two of lectures at the University of Gent, my favorite lecture yet concerning sustainability was one given this morning on plant production in Belgium by Professor Reheul. Even adding in a few historical facts, Professor Reheul described the production of the plants that Belgium is most famous for, such as endives and coffee surrogate. I also got the opportunity to ask the professor about which vegetables are in season at this moment, to which he replied strawberries and carrots. This is definitely comparable to America’s in-season foods at the moment, and is what I will be purchasing at the market tomorrow to cook in the hostel. One of the highlights I learned was that Belgium is actually the founder of the practice of crop rotation to conserve soil and land quality on farms. Also, it was interesting to become aware of how sustainable practices are still increasingly researched, such as saving the roots of particular veggies to turn to compost and fertilizers. Happily, we were told that no one in Europe really disputes or challenges the fact that climate change is real, which was a relief.
Along with vegetables and crops, we also became very well-informed on one of the traditional aspects of Belgium through a beer-tasting lecture, in which we sampled ten different Belgian beers. Although I did not go into the lecture with much knowlege on the history of beers, I found it interesting that the monks are the group of people acclaimed to have transformed brewing to an artisanal craft, and they described beer as “liquid bread.” Along with the history, I can now explain the differences in IPAs, Hops, and Groots. Another fun fact about Belgian beers is that at restaurants or bars, each different kind of beer is served in their own glass, no matter where it is served. Although very interesting, after only enjoying maybe 2/10 beer samples, I have decided even some of the best beers in the world are still not my drink of preference.
Today, following the lecture on plant production, we were able to tour the VIB, which is the Flemish Institute of Bio-technology. At the VIB, research is conducted by 1,300+ scientists concerning genetically modified plants and changing particular phenotypes in plants in order to increase sustainability and decrease the carbon footprint. Similarly to America, the average Belgian’s perspective on GMOs is very negative and untrustworthy, with a focus more on organic crops. What many do not realize is that with increasing research, genetically modified organisms is exactly what the world needs in order to produce more of less harmful crops.
I still hold many questions concerning animal production in Flanders. Compared to American attitudes, I would consider the average Belgian more conscious of what meat they consume. For example, every Thursday at the University of Gent the cafeteria serves no meat at all. However, I would still like to dive into more detail on the environmental measures that farmers in Belgium are enforced to practice and what exact treatments are they using to lessen the impact of manure and fertilizer runoff from these farms. Tomorrow we begin with a lecture on GMOs that I am looking forward to. Hopefully, it will answer other questions concerning current research on the subject and ways the scientific world is trying to change the general mindset of the public.
--
Eleanor, a Biological Engineering major, studied abroad with our
U of A Faculty-Led: Sustainability in the Euro Food System program.
Read more from Eleanor at
https://you.uark.edu/egh001/
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at
http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
