Gourmet Museum and Library

Reading room

It is the most important collection of food and drink books in Belgium and one of the twenty largest in Europe.[1] The books, mainly old, are about food, arts of the table and tobacco, mainly in Europe and particularly in Belgium. They are classified by subjects: biographies, history, biographies, recipes, religious cookery, children’s cookery, dietetics, vegetarianism, veganism, home economics, sociology, food chemistry, publicities, iconography, literature, music, etc.

The data-processing encoding is modern. An outline of the catalogue is reproduced on the website. This library has the only specimen of the Cuisinier anglais.

The library also has other specialities:

• Art History and archaeology
• Dance and choreography
• Local and dialectal Archives
• History of the Post office and of the script (funds created in 2004 with the Museum “Postes restantes” located in the same building).

The works are consultable on written request and appointment, given the voluntary help of the librarians.

One of the rooms of the museum

Authentic objects of gastronomy, original paintings, furniture, masterpieces and objects of curiosity, etc. are laid out in vaulted rooms of the 17th century.[2] The visits are always guided: the visitors are accompanied by a guide which explains, in an attractive and humorous way, the history of the cookery by taking its interlocutors into account. The children, the elderly, the disabled person find here an adapted reception. The association received the Belgium price CAP48 2009 for this policy[3]

Library and museum also organize in situ temporary exhibitions ; they take part in cultural big events (like Made in Belgium in Brussels), and collaborate with other museums or institutions for research.