Food at the 1910 Brussels Exhibition

A study by Tellström, Gustafsson and Lindgren investigating the construction of Swedish national food archetypes at international exhibitions demonstrates that food was used as a politicised instrument for cultural expression and national typification. ¹ Following their example, this chapter aims to analyse if, and how, the Belgian organisers of and participants in the 1910 Brussels World Exhibition used food in the various spaces of consumption at the exhibition for the purpose of identity construction and in the legitimation of the Belgian nation. More specifically it investigates which spaces and roles were granted to beer and chocolate – now considered ‘typically’ Belgian foodstuffs – both in that event and in general in the construction of a national image.