Belgian American Club of Texas

10/10/2026

Deadline for submitting recipes and stories is October 30.

We are collecting recipes and family food stories for our 50th Anniversary cookbook, and we invite you to submit your favorites. We have received more than 45 recipes so far, including Stoofvlees (beef stew), Hutsepot (also a beef stew with a variety of vegetables), Pannekoeken (thin pancake), potato leek soup, Flemish fondue, red cabbage, and Vlaaien (flan). Similar recipes are welcome, and submissions do not need to be Flemish or Belgian. If possible, please add a personal touch by including a brief memory about cooking with family, sharing meals, family traditions, or gatherings with relatives and friends.
We would like to include stories about mealtimes: what it was like as your family and/or friends gathered together, such as the following submitted by Kathleen Wurn:
“For supper, it was an “eat whatever the pot cooks” meal. Mom would cook a full course meal, usually steak, potatoes, and a vegetable. Her specialty was mashed potatoes. Once she and dad got creative with the mashed potatoes and mixed it with canned spinach so that we would eat that vegetable. Later in life I realized that this was a Belgian concoction called Stoemp, which is a typical Brussels dish made from mashed potatoes mixed with other mashed vegetables: spinach, carrots, endive, kale, Brussel sprouts, or turnip greens. I had no problem eating this because I liked spinach anyways, but I am not so sure it was a hit with everyone else."
Please email your recipes and stories to Kathleen Wurn, [email protected]. If you prefer, you may mail them to her @13802 French Park, Helotes TX 78023. One other method would be to take a picture of the recipe, and text it to Kathleen.
Our plans are for the cookbook to be free to current BACT members. We may have some available for purchase but no firm plans have been made on the price.
The deadline for submissions will be October 30.

10/08/2026

Interesting story

Six thousand Belgians arrived in County Durham in 1916. Britain built them an entire town — with Belgian laws, Belgian police, and Belgian street names — in the middle of English farmland.

When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, a quarter of a million Belgian civilians fled across the Channel to Britain. It was the largest single refugee movement in British history to that point. Most were placed with British families willing to take them in. Church halls opened their doors. Schools made space. But thousands of Belgian men were mu*****ns workers — skilled labour Britain desperately needed for the war effort. Housing them scattered across the country made no sense. So Britain made a decision that remains almost unthinkable today: it would build the Belgians their own town.

Elisabethville rose from the fields of County Durham in 1916. Named after Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, the settlement was purpose-built to house Belgian mu****on workers and their families who had fled the German occupation. It wasn't a camp. It wasn't temporary barracks. It was a functioning town — two hundred and eighteen terraced houses, shops, a school, a church, a police station. The streets bore Belgian names. The local governance ran under Belgian law. The police who patrolled were Belgian officers. For all practical purposes, a corner of northeast England had become a corner of Belgium.

The men worked at the nearby National Projectile Factory in Birtley, producing the shells Britain needed to feed the guns on the Western Front. The factory ran around the clock. The Belgians brought skills in metalwork and precision engineering that British industry couldn't afford to lose. But Britain understood something else: these weren't just workers. They were families. Men with wives and children who had lost everything when the German armies rolled through their towns. Scattering them into lodgings across Durham would have broken the social bonds that held their communities together. So Britain gave them something extraordinary — the space to rebuild their lives, together, under their own institutions.

Elisabethville had its own mayor. Its own courts. Disputes between Belgian residents were settled under Belgian civil law. The children attended Belgian schools, taught in French and Flemish. The church held services in the languages of home. When you walked the streets, the signs were Belgian. The shopkeepers spoke French. The cafés sold Belgian b**r. County Durham locals would visit on Sundays to see this strange pocket of Europe that had appeared in their countryside. It became a minor tourist attraction — the Belgian village in England.

The war ended in November 1918. Belgium was free. By 1919, most of the residents of Elisabethville had packed their belongings and returned home. The town emptied almost as quickly as it had filled. The houses stood vacant for a time, then were gradually absorbed back into the local housing stock. The Belgian street names were replaced with English ones. The church became a community hall. Within a decade, little trace remained of what had been there. Today, a few plaques mark the site. The rows of terraced houses still stand, occupied now by English families who may or may not know the origins of the streets they live on.

It's easy to forget how enormous the logistical effort was. Britain was fighting the largest war in its history. Resources were stretched to breaking point. And yet the decision was made to divert labour, materials, and land to build an entire functioning town for six thousand foreign civilians. Not a holding pen. Not a temporary solution. A town, with governance and dignity and the institutions that make a community whole. The Belgians were allies, yes. But the scale of what Britain built for them speaks to something beyond wartime pragmatism. It was an act of solidarity that recognised the humanity of people who had lost their homes, and gave them the tools to rebuild their lives while they waited for the chance to return.

Elisabethville lasted less than four years. But for the families who lived there, it was a bridge between the Belgium they had fled and the Belgium they would return to. A fragment of home, held in trust on English soil. 🏘️

The full story's over at Empire Untold — follow for more forgotten chapters.

🎨 Images are AI-assisted illustrations created to depict historical events.

09/26/2026

Tomorrow’s the big day. Join us for Kermis. It is a member’s only event. Single members may bring a guest. If you plan to join, you may sign up at the event.

Make sure you sign in at the registration table to get your meal ticket.

If you are a guest of a member, please sign in at the registration table.

09/22/2026

🎉 EXCITING NEWS! 🎉

Schattenbol at DeCock Farm is opening back up for the weekends! 🌾

Starting NEXT WEEK — Friday, October 2nd, come hang out with us every Friday & Saturday from 6 PM–11 PM.

🍻 Bar open with a variety of drinks
🎯 Yard games
🌾 Good times & a great place to hang
🎉 New events coming throughout October

Follow along to see upcoming events! 👀

📍 Schattenbol DeCock Farm
🗓️ Starting Friday, October 2nd
⏰ Fridays & Saturdays | 6–11 PM

**rgarden

09/22/2026

09/12/2026

NEW YORK–Alexander Blockx beat Francisco Cerundolo in four sets on Monday to become the first Belgian man ever to reach the US Open quarter-finals. The 21-year-old Blockx, seeded 28th in his Flushing Meadows debut, out-lasted 24th-seeded Cerundolo 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. Blockx, who upset fifth-seeded...

09/11/2026

If you would like to join the BACT, you may do so at Kermis on September 27. That way you can join the festivities.
However, if you join by September 20, you name and information will be listed in the directory. The directory will be available at Kermis.

09/08/2026

MEMBERSHIP IN THE BELGIAN AMERICAN CLUB OF TEXAS

If you want to join the Belgian American Club of Texas, there are a few requirements. One is that you need to be of Belgian descent. Another is, you need to fill out a membership request form. You also need to pay a fee of $20 for a family membership and $10 for individual (18 years and older). You may pay through PayPal. Just contact us through messenger, and our membership chair Kim DeCock, will send you a form and answer any questions you may have.
If you get your membership and payment in by September 20, your name, address, and other information will be in our club directory, which will be available at Kermis, September 27. Along with this free directory, membership will make you eligible for a free BACT Cookbook. The cookbook will be distributed at the Christmas Feast.
One other advantage is our quarterly newsletter will be mailed to you.
So join us, and be a part of a wonderful organization that values family, friends, and our Belgian Heritage.