Food History of Bruges

Key eras

1. 1277 to about 1500, the trading port

   Bruges stood where the northern Hanseatic trade met the southern routes, and the Hanseatic League kept a kontor in the city. Genoese ships reached its port in 1277, opening the trade in Levant spices, and the Zwin inlet that fed this trade began silting up around 1500.

2. 1515, Café Vlissinghe

   Café Vlissinghe in the Sint-Anna district is the oldest continuously running café in Bruges, and the first written record of it dates from 1515. It occupies two joined houses from the late 15th century, rebuilt largely in the 17th.

   Taste it todayCafé VlissingheSint-Anna

3. 1856 to 2016, De Halve Maan

   Leon Maes took over the De Halve Maan brewery in 1856, and six generations of his family have run it. It launched Straffe Hendrik in 1981 and Brugse Zot in 2005, and since 2016 its beer reaches the bottling plant through a 3.3 km underground pipeline.

   Taste it todayBrugse ZotDe Halve Maan

4. 1907, Zeebrugge opens

   The idea of a new port to link Bruges to the sea again, as in the Middle Ages, grew in the 19th century, and King Leopold II officially opened Zeebrugge in 1907. Zeebrugge is now Belgium's most important fishing port, and its wholesale fish market is one of the largest in Europe.

Immigrant influences

Genoese, Castilian and Hanseatic merchants

Genoese ships arrived in 1277 and brought the Levant spice trade, Castilian wool merchants came from the 13th century, and the Hanseatic League kept a kontor in the city.

French-Belgian restaurant cooking

Assiette Blanche pairs a small seasonal menu with French-Belgian classics and regional dishes, and De Stove describes its cooking as an ode to Belgian-French gastronomy.

Taste it todayAssiette BlancheDe Stove

Signature innovations

• The De Halve Maan beer pipeline: 3.3 km under the old centre since 2016
  Taste it todayDe Halve Maan
• Brugse Zot, launched in 2005 and named after the nickname Brugse Zotten
  Taste it todayBrugse Zot
• The Chocolate Line's pralines with caramelised shrimp heads or homegrown tomatoes
  Taste it todayThe Chocolate Line
• The Brugs Swaentje, a praline chosen by the people of Bruges in 2006