Talk:Waterzooi

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I happen to be born in Ghent, though I have lived in Canada for the last 37 years. I have been back several times, last two years ago, and have never heard of waterzooi made with anything but chicken. Maybe now there also exists a fish version, a more recent concoction, but I have not tried it. For that matter, I do not like the chicken platter either.

Recently, in a travel article, I saw waterzooi (again, stressing the fish variety, though it was also mentioned there was a possibility of making it with chicken) referred to as a "peasant" dish. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, Ghent was a walled city with over 65,000 inhabitants, almost as big as Paris then, but much bigger than London or Hamburg at the time. The city got its richness from the textiles that were made there, and exported throughout the rest of Europe. Hardly peasants.

The "tarbot" (turbot) variety would not be called so if it were made with anything but turbot itself. It might be called a "vis" (fish) meal, but if it included eel (paling), that would certainly be mentioned, "paling in het groen" (eel with herbs) being another Ghents specialty. I suspect it is a misreading of the word "Rabot", which was a toll house where barges coming into the city with their wares (including fishmongers) would pay a toll to be let in. The word now describes an area of the city bordering on that toll house. The fish variety may have originated there, and named for that area. Alfred Van Peteghem. 74.13.204.22 17:26, 9 April 2007 (UTC)