Mosselen met Frieten/Moules et Frites

This is one of the national dishes, possibly the national dish, of Belgium. In Brussels, it may be called simply ‘le complet bruxellois’. It is not complicated, but its preparation and the agreeable ritual with which the people of Ostend, in particular, consume it deserve study. I was instructed in the ritual, appropriately, by an Ostend schoolteacher, and in the cooking by Mevrouw Rach