Once upon a time, in my childhood, markets were the center of the shopping. I can clearly recall buying food, meat, pijamas abd clothes, week after week, market after market, whether in the small countryside village of my weekends or the city main square close to my school.

The things that was surely not part of the ritual was to have your lunch at the market: you would just have to go home and cook the food you had just bought.

But then I moved to Brussels and year after year, I realized there’s a different way to live a market.

You still do your weekly shopping, but when you have finished it, you can have your lunch just there.

This is what I do when I go to Gare du Midi market: I sit at one of those hidden tables and taste Moroccan flavors. Along the sides of the station, in Avenue Fonsny, behind the huge display of olives and spices… there you have it, a corner of Morocco.

On the menu: pancakes with olives, vegetables, cheese, honey, and any combination requested. Be careful, they are huge! And don’t forget to get a glass of that sweet Moroccan tea, very good on a warm winter day.

Be careful, if you get there too late (target 13:30 at the latest or you’ll be hugely disappointed!) you might find there are no more pancakes, so you are warned!