Discovering Brussels in 2015: food and fashion

Happy New Year!

I was asking my friends if they had any good new year's resolutions, but most people were avoiding any such promises. Me, on the other hand, I couldn't invent any meaningful resolutions. Maybe I'm such a perfect - or ignorant - person already?

However, back in Brussels after Christmas holidays in Finland, I got this great idea of trying to follow one of my new Brussels guidebooks "The 500 Hidden Secrets of Brussels" by Derek Blyth and write down my thoughts about these discoveries here in the blog. 

It's a very nice guidebook listing cool bars, Belgian-style restaurants, small museums, beautiful parks etc. usually off the beaten tourist track. I'm sure it has plenty of ideas even for people who have lived in Brussels a while already.

I followed the book's advise for my choice of lunch today as I wanted to get out of the apartment despite the heavy rain. In the list of "The 5 most exotic Asian restaurants", there was Hong Kong Delight in Rue Sainte-Catherine in the Dansaert quartier. Blyth writes that it serves some of the best Cantonese food in town.

My knowledge of Cantonse food is not very refined as such distinctions are rare in the Chinese food scene in Finland. However, I must say that the food we ordered with my sisters in Espoo from a Chinese restaurant called Jufu was really good and better than the food I had in Hong Kong Delight. Jufu's aubergine in garlic sauce was excellent while Hong Kong Delight's tofu with Chinese vegetables was just basic good. 

Taken that the place features in the list of the most exotic Asian restaurants in Brussels, I was expecting something a bit more exceptional and surprising. For sure, the food was good and there were many vegetarian options (which is always positive in Brussels), but I expect there to be a dozen similar places around the neighborhood. However, I wouldn't mind going back there again for a simple lunch.

Oh, I dream of the Gourmet Dumpling House in Boston, the best Chinese place ever!

No 28: Hong Kong Delight in the list of the 5 most exotic Asian restaurants.

I managed to visit another place listed in the book during my Saturday rainy day stroll in the Dansaert quartier. Dansaert / St. Catherine in the city centre is, by the way, a cool neighborhood with hip boutiques, like my favorite Cotélac, and some nice-looking bars and restaurants that also feature in my Brussels guidebook. So, obviously it is a quartier I need to visit many more times in order to finish my 2015 to do -list.

The January sales was of course a good moment to visit the "most inspiring Brussels designers". One of them, Annemie Verbeke, has a boutique at Rue Antoine Dansaert. Despite the sales, the clothes were still a bit too expensive but otherwise they were really cool and would fit my garderobe. For a special occasion maybe...

It is interesting to notice that the Belgian fashion and design scene is mostly occupied by Flemish designers. Some of them seem very cool indeed. For me, there are many discoveries to be made in this area. And window shopping is enough!

No 160: Annemie Verbeke in the list of the 5 most inspiring Brussels designers. Photo from the website of Annemie Verbeke.

I visited another shop of Flemish design further down the street and bought this pair of funny shoes. There were also a tempting collection of colourful cardigans. Unfortunately, the shop of Roos Vandekerckhove was under "liquidation totale" so I don't know if the whole business has come to an end. It would be sad because of the "Made in Belgium" label in the clothes. I was hoping that decently priced cardigans can still be made in Europe (in a profitable way)!

Shoes by Roos Vandekerckhove. My own discovery. You know, they are also possible...

Fashion revolution: demanding ethical clothes

Last month, on April 24, a revolution took place. This time it was about fashion and the idea was to commemorate the victims of the collapse of the Rana Plaza textile factory in Bangladesh one year earlier. The horrible accident killed more than 1 100 garment workers manufacturing cheap clothes for our "needs" in the West. Journalist Jason Burke challenges this mindless consumption in the Guardian: "People blamed the factory owners, the builders, or the government. But isn't the real culprit our demand for cheap clothing?" Indeed it is, but rather than pillorying anyone or everyone, our responsibility now as civilized consumers is to demand for more ethical and ecologically and socially sustainable clothes as was done during the Fashion Revolution Day.

The day consisted of different events around the world to gain attention to the poor working conditions in Asia and to the lack of ethics in fashion industry. Even the Italian Vogue participated in this fashion revolution (hypocritical?). With my flatmate here in Helsinki, we went to the cute and cosy art gallery Lokal to participate in a photo session organized as part of the day's events (they had great scones for breakfast too). The point was to take photos of people wearing their favourite clothes inside-out (showing the "Made in" label). I wore one of my favourite Marimekko dresses ("Made in China"!!!) that has attracted a lot of positive feedback from my friends and strangers alike (in a scout event a German guy told me that I was the best dressed scout ever - blush!).

Wearing one of my favourite Marimekko dresses inside out. More ethical fashion, please! (You can find more photos in Twitter with #insideout)

Unfortunately Marimekko, the most well-known Finnish fashion brand, has started to manufacture more and more of its clothes abroad. I'm obviously ok with EU countries, but I'm annoyed that some of the quite expensive clothes are nowadays made in China. Who knows how the subcontractor of a subcontractor is working. I've send a few emails to Marimekko complaining about the current situation: why isn't Marimekko making its clothes in Europe any more when it is at the same time celebrating loudly its Finnish design tradition? The excuses have been weak ("there is no machinery in Finland any more" - hmmm, I wonder why) and, to my humble opinion, it's just about making more profit for the stock holders (well, of course it is). It's a pity because I'd love to buy more Marimekko clothes and wear them proudly in Finland and abroad (I should actually be given some kind of a Marimekko promotion prize for all the publicity I've done for the company outside Finland - except for this blog piece maybe...).

In the Guardian, Jason Burke continues: "Executives from big brands all make similar points when talking about the Rana Plaza collapse. They express their shock and grief... They also emphasise the importance of the garment industry to the Bangladeshi economy and the social transformation brought about by the employment of millions of young, rural women, albeit in poorly paid, monotonous jobs. One company spokesman points out that otherwise 'these women would be in the fields, in ship-breaking or shrimp farming, working as maids'. Now, he says, they are breadwinners, independent, and often with the means to pay for their kids to go to school." It is true that withdrawing the garment industry from Bangladesh would leave millions of people without a job (altogether the livelihood of 8 million Bangladeshis depends on this industry). That's why it's imperative to improve the working conditions out there. There is a need for global solidarity even though that sounds like a quite unrealistic solution. 

Personally, I think we could afford to pay much more for our t-shirts - and for ecological reasons we should pay more and buy less. However, it's sad what the business is saying (again a citation from Burke's article): "Companies do very precise work to understand the consumers and what level of quality they are willing to pay for, and a large number of consumers prefer inexpensive over respect for human rights or environment. After all, if you buy a pair of jeans at $9.99, what are you really expecting about the working conditions of those who made them or even just the environment in which they live?" This is why the strict regulations should be in the law and not in the hands of the consumers. Couldn't the EU do something (why not ask your EU parliament candidate!)?

I've discovered recently the brand Cotélac, which I really fell in love with and I think it must be somewhat ethical as the clothes are made in France and in their shops they are very willing to talk about the production. However, when I tried to inspect the issue more, I couldn't find information on the internet after a quick look. But well, Cotélac's clothes are so expensive that it is by necessity ethical and ecological as you can only buy very few of them... However, this just exemplifies how difficult it is for the consumer to know what they are buying and where all the pieces and bits are made in. Nowadays it is not even necessary to have the label of origin in the clothes; I find this actually quite shocking considering how much effort the EU is putting on the labels of food for example. I want consumer protection here too - protection against bad consciousness (or is knowing worse? it's made in China and I buy it anyway...).

Cotélac print from this spring's collection.

After the few negative words about Marimekko spelled above, I have to say that at least they have their corporate responsibility agenda clearly visible on their website. It is by the way surprising that of Marimekko's total production only 23 per cent are made outside of the EU. Surprising because each time I look at the "Made in" tag it says China, which after all only represents 8 per cent of Marimekko's manufacturing. All in all, Marimekko's website is a great source of information. This is already quite good while it doesn't impede me from challenging them to work more ethically and ecologically by sending them an email every now and then reminding them that there are consumers who care - by the way, you should do that too with your favourite company. 

p.s. Here are some tips for sustainable fashion brands from Finland.

Finding the sophisticated metropolis

On my fourth day in Hanoi, I started getting more used to the traffic and crossing the streets felt like part of the tourism sport. In general, I strated liking the city a bit. And more was to come. I had read an interesting article on the New York Times about the contemporary art scene in Hanoi, "The Awakening of Hanoi", and I was inspired to look at some bits of this awakening. I followed my dorm mate's advice and visited Mai Gallery and Apricot Gallery. I have to admit, I was impressed. For 3000 dollars you could buy some pretty great paintings (next door they were being copied by lesser talents). I especially fell in love with Nguyen Van Cuong's powerfully coloured paintings of Vietnamese women.

My art tour was followed by an espresso (oh, it felt good: even though Vietnam is a huge coffee producer, the coffee here is extremely sweet, almost tasting like hot chocolate, the Italian coffee snob in me speaking again) in a little coffee house, La Place, next to St. Joseph's cathedral. The neighbourhood around the church gave me a glimpse of that sophisticated Hanoi some articles were writing about. I was sitting next to three local hipsters that really caught my attention with their cool clothes and fashionable hair styles. I started talking with them. It turned out that one of the guys, Nick (right in the photo), was actually a fashion designer himself and sold his clothes in La Cage, in the very expensive neighbourhood close to the opera (he's photos are all over La Cage's website). Perhaps, an avantguard of Vietnamese fashion. Nick had lived in London and spoke perfect English with a Brittish accent. I felt bad in my crappy traveller's clothes. I quite didn't understand before arriving here that Hanoi is actually a capital just like any other, and as in London or Paris, people don't walk around in trekking shoes but girls are wearing high heels of 10 cm. Nick however noticed my Marimekko bracelet and with a sparkle in his eyes admitted that he was a big fan of the Nordic design (maybe I pushed it a bit though...).

Mausoleum.

Contemporary art, espresso, and local fashion designer, not all that bad for getting into Hanoi's sophisticated side. Well, let's not exaggerate, I also visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, one of the creepiest tourist site's ever and got into the socialist side of Vietnam as well. After queuing for one hour in a strict order kept by many soldiers in their white costumes, I spent 20 seconds around HCM's body (not that I had wanted to contemplate the waxy body any longer). I was almost laughing out loud; the idiot stuff you need to do when you're a tourist... Next to the mausoleum, there's also a museum dedicated to HCM. It's only slightly less weird than the mausoleum but definitely worth a visit. It's quite unlike any other museum I've visited. On display were many installations and documents that introduced HCM's ideas and achievements to the visitor mostly in a very symbolic level. It was socialist propaganda in almost a cute format that made it feel very unreal.

Ho Chi Minh.

The text for this weird display read: "The symbols of nature in its beauty contrasted with industrial plants in this hall represent Uncle Ho's expectation that Young People shoulder the reponsibility for the protection and preservation of peace and the environment, and prevention of aggressive and destrucive wars." Well said, even though the Alice in the Wonderland kind of a display is pretty funny.