2013-05-11 20.32.23Breaking bread with strangers often leads to incredible experiences. The act of sharing a meal taps into a fundamental need and the act of generosity opens our hearts for new adventures. A meal shared has the magic to turn strangers into friends.
BookALokal seems to be on the lips of every friend of mine here in Brussels. Founded by Evelyn White, an American expat, BookALokal is a website where locals living in any particular city opens up their home and cooks a meal for strangers, travelers, expats and alike. It is the AirBnB for secret dining and local experience. Sherry and I have been toying with this very same idea as a start up for about 6 months now and being the experience hungry traveler / entrepreneurs we had to check it out.
We made reservation for 5 people for a beer and food pairing for 35 Euros each. The dinner ends up being hosted by Evelyn herself with a co-host Brian. Evelyn was in charge of the food and Brian was in charge of the beers. We were unsure it would just be us plus our hosts or would there be other people as well. BookALokal meals are at minimum 2 people and maxim 12, ranging from intimate to the perfect size for a dinner party. I hope there will be no shortage of new friends tonight. I am excited to get an insider’s take on what it is like to live in the land of chocolate and beer.
Sherry the intrepid, Veronique the beautiful, Allison of CheeseWeb, Dave the indecipherable Brit and myself were joined by Rui, the Portuguese with a love for classic cars, Saba the school teacher, Colleen on vacation from Washington DC, her friend Carolina, Jacqueline the Dutch working for the European Commission and Angela, the energetic thespian who is in love with Rome and can’t stop speaking to me in Italian. A smorgasbord of internationals, mostly working for various government agencies and the few of us who are traveling through.
Four delightful courses (I ate too much!) of Belgium national dishes prepared by Evelyn (more than generous with the portions) while Brian entertained us with history on each of the beers, what makes it special and silly rhyming toasts. The food offered us something to focus on while the beer loosened our tongues and remove the awkwardness of strangers meeting. The atmosphere of being in someone’s home and eclectic collection of internationals made this the perfect dinner party. Dinner with strangers! I loved every moment of it. It was well pass 1am when I finally took note of the time. The party doesn’t seem to want to come to an end but end it must. After all, we are in someone’s home.
As we gather our things and say our goodbye, there are plans being made all around to meet again, to stay in touch. Strangers no more! I can’t wait to try other BookALokal events in other cities.

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