It is the greatest scandal to rock Belgium since Jean-Claude Van Damme was revealed to be a giant Smurf posing as a martial arts master: Lotus and Willems, master biscoff cookie makers, battling it out for the right to sell speculoos spread, a creamy paste made from the beloved, traditional cinnamon ginger cookie of Flanders. In the U.S., this might just have been a snoozerific story of copyright infringement; but in Europe, a land of deep cultural connection to its foods and seriously wonky laws, it's turned into an epic battle that has pit baker against baker, brother against brother. It involves reality television.


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