"brussels" news and stories

A recent medical conference in Brussels featured discussion of the health benefits of beer, which supposedly range from improvement of heart health and fighting osteoporosis to protecting against type II diabetes and staving off cancer, according to The Publican. The chairman of the discussion was professor Jonathan Powell of the Medical Research Council human nutrition unit in Cambridge. According to a story in The Times, Powell said that many of the health benefits attributed to wine are actually related to the alcohol itself. The Times article goes on to report on findings that beer may also help create a healthier balance of good and bad cholesterol. As you might expect, most of these findings are associated with beer drinking done in moderation.

Off to Brussels or Paris? Or perhaps you already live there. These two google maps (they are called mashups as they add extra information on top of the standard google map) might just come in handy.

The map for Brussels has a cafe and bar finder and adds locations of wall paintings in the city. The map of Paris is a little more specialised as it shows the location of kosher restaurants in the city plus a selection of famous landmarks and other sights.  

Brussels - http://www.brusselstripstad.be/ 

Paris - http://www.kosherblog.net/paris/index.html 

[Found via Google Maps Mania]

MSN has posted a list of the top 10 cities for foodies, as determined by a travel site. The cities chosen are all over the globe, picked for a combination of unique dishes, celebrity chefs and all-around good cuisine. Barcelona, Brussels, Lyon and Rome were lauded for their long standing traditions, while Las Vegas and New York were included for having just about everything. While San Francisco did get a nod for its non-Asian cuisine, it seems to have been selected mainly on the availability of good Chinese food. Asian flavors are what put Tokyo, Vancouver and Hanoi on the list, too.

It appears that the definition of a foodie as someone who is willing (and possibly desperate) to eat anything has been put into play with this list, as along with Asian flair, Hanoi was picked for "unusual delicacies like dog or snake," including "fried snake skin, snake spring rolls, snake soup, and minced snake dumpling." Weird meats are all well and good, but to plan a whole trip around them seems a bit extreme.

Nevertheless, their list includes:

Source