Caracoles, a phenomenon in Brussels street gastronomy

Medium-sized day-fresh periwinkles or sea snails simmering in their cooking juices, with a few leeks added and light seasoning. That is essentially the recipe for delicious caracoles. These gastropods landed in Brussels in the 16th century.

In the Middle Ages, Brussels benefited from its advantageous location along the Bruges-Cologne trade route. Partly as a result of the Zwin silting up, in the 16th century the economic centre of gravity shifted to Antwerp, which was directly connected to the North Sea. Brussels relied on the Zenne for its shipping traffic. Although the river was navigable, it ran through the seigniory of Mechelen, and the people of Mechelen levied tolls on the fish and salt brought in by the Brussels traders. In 1550, these traders requested and obtained permission from Charles V to dig a canal, the Willebroek Canal, which flowed into the North Sea via the Rupel and the Zeeschelde. It was opened with much fanfare in 1561. Brussels was now a seaport. And what came down to Brussels via the new waterway? Among other seafood, the delicious caracoles. Especially during the various fasting days stipulated by the Church, it was a welcome change in diet, consisting of freshwater fish and salted or smoked seafood, among other things.

The caracole never actually made it as far as restaurants. They were sold at markets and above all in the many itinerant stalls dotted around the city. Initially, the sellers - who were mostly women - had to stock up at the wholesale market and then wash their snails at home. Later on, they sourced, washed and sorted them from a local supplier. Both quality and variety have improved over the years. Until the Second World War, the sellers, according to custom and at fixed price, continued to refill the bags they were served in, until the people guzzling them had had enough ... or had a coughing fit. Pretty generous, don't you think? Well, that depends on how much pepper had been sprinkled into the broth beforehand.

The matriarch of the caracole madams in Brussels was undoubtedly Jeanne Vertommen, better known as Mie Caricole. She started in 1938, barely 17 years old, in her stepmother's stall on the Sint-Hubertus Gallery. With varying degrees of success, her stall at the Bourse was followed by others at the Dapperheid Square and in the nearby Wayezstraat in Anderlecht. That was during the winter, because in the summer she performed as a ballet dancer in famous Brussels revue venues such as the Folies Bergère and La Gaîté. Mie Caracole died in 2011 at the age of 89.

But where did the name caracole - or caricole in Brussels, with an 'i', come from? As mentioned above, the delicacy emerged in Brussels during the Spanish period. The name also comes from the Spanish caracol, the fine curls Spanish girls put in their hair at the time. Because that's what they looked like ...