Anti-Austerity Protesters throw chips and mayo at Belgian prime minister

[ellenrr]

The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, has been bombarded with french fries and squirted with mayonnaise by anti-austerity activists.

The 39-year-old leader, who took office in October, leads a coalition that intends to raise the retirement age in Belgium to 67, scrap plans for a usually automatic cost-of-living raise next year and cut public-sector spending.

The plans sparked several rounds of strikes and demonstrations in the past weeks, including a march of more than 100,000 people in Brussels, which ended in violent protests that left dozens of police officers injured.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/22/anti-austerity-protesters-throw-chips-mayonnaise-belgian-prime-minister

[KamaAina]

1. What a waste of good pommes frites.

But I'd sure be up for dousing the PM with mayo.

[procon]

2. Fries and mayo... is that a local delicacy?

A Canadian friend got me hooked on another odd gastronomic achievement called Poutine, an awful looking mess of fried potatoes, beef gravy, and cheese curds that tastes wonderful.

[KamaAina]

3. Apparently so, over there

I've even heard of some heathens trying it here.

[daredtowork]

4. Poutine place just opened in Berkeley

Last edited Tue Dec 23, 2014, 12:43 AM - Edit history (1)

Passed it on my way to appts, and I'm about to pass it on my way back. I only heard of this around a year ago, and I have a theory on where the poutine wave started that's too silly to mention here. But I figure poutine is the cronut of 2015, and hopefully it's the beachhead of a general Canadian invasion (featuring their evil plot to inflict health care and spruce beer on us all!).

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/12/17/smokes-poutinerie-opens-first-us-store-in-berkeley/

[hatrack]

5. Poutine I know, but a . . . cronut?

[daredtowork]

6. A forgettable celebrity-driven fad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronut

[pinboy3niner]

7. Invented by some pastry-faced food geek, no doubt

[KamaAina]

8. Spruce beer?!

Is that like birch/root beer, or actual beer?

[daredtowork]

9. Up there with sarsaparilla

On the non-alcoholic option drinks possibly found in bars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_beer

[KamaAina]

10. Beauty, eh?

Although I was in T.O. in the early '90s and never saw it.

[daredtowork]

11. You would probably have to go up to the Yukon or something, lol. nt

[Joe Shlabotnik]

12. The only reason I remain a Canadian citizen is for the poutine.

As for fries and mayo... what, you never saw Pulp Fiction!

[procon]

13. I'm really suffering here!

I don't think I'm up to trying the fries and mayo, but I'm sure hungering for a huge bowl of poutine! It's the bane of most of my culinary adventures that specialty ingredients, like the ever so exotic and foreign cheddar cheese curds, are not to be had in my local groceries.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

14. Apart from occasionally making poutine at home,

I usually buy it from stands, and 1 local restaurant that has found a niche with French fries any way you want them. Fortunately, as a maintenance man, I burn a shit load of calories every day that allows me to eat soul food with impunity, and wash it down with beers, and still remain 165 lbs at 6' tall.

[nomorenomore08]

15. Mayo on fries is delicious IMO!

[Boreal]

16. Pelting the PM with food is really going to stop austerity

Not.

Q. What would stop it?