Posted on 06/06/2026 7:19:54 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Three-and-a-half-thousand hungry Alsatians wolf down platters of charcuterie and periodically burst into noisy chorus....the latest iteration of a feasting phenomenon that is sweeping provincial France.
The Alsace town of Colmar – famous for its half-timbered medieval centre – was the scene last weekend of one of the banquets géants – huge banquets whose popularity in the country has suddenly become a hot political issue.
Run by a company called Le Canon Français (The French Cannon), the banquets are massively attended – €81 (£70) buying you four courses of local gastronomy, all the wine you can drink, and several hours of sing-along camaraderie.
At the Colmar banquet, held in a vast hangar-like space on the edge of town...the punters are seated on long tables with 50 down each side. Many men are in what has become a kind of Canon Français uniform of berets and braces. A few women are in traditional Alsace dress.
There is a brief address from management reminding diners of the "charter" committing them to behave with respect and decorum, and then the fun begins. An army of servers brings out platters with choucroute, then Alsace cheeses and the traditional kougelhopf pudding. Wine flows.
Periodically the revellers down forks and join in song. Old standards by performers like Michel Delpech and Joe Dassin are the favourites. These are songs from an earlier generation, but the participants - who look like they are mainly in their 20s and 30s - know them by heart.
"We come for four things: atmosphere, friends, alcohol and food," says one young man in a response which is echoed over and again. No-one wants to talk politics, except to say that they think the whole controversy has been blown out of proportion.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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Braces = Suspenders?........
"Why can't they just leave us alone?""
To the bolded part: they won't leave you alone until they know with certainty that if they get in your face, they will get a bloody nose or worse.
Yes, but I don’t know where they found so many punters in a country that doesn’t play football.
Could change the course of French history. Those don’t look like surrender monkeys. I’m sure that’s just wishful thinking.
So what is controversial?!
This is all about young French men trying to preserve their culture. Good for them.
In Europe a punter is slang for a gambler.........
“…..purposely designed to exclude Muslims and vegetarians.”
Ok…what goes around comes around.
The next Muslim fanfare I hear about I want to attend. I’ll expect pork chops and I’m bringing my dog. And I’ll put my feet up so my soles can be seen.
So there….morons.
Westerners like to party. Muslims don’t. Too busy praying 5 times a day.
Well, Elsass historically was a part of Germany, and the native dialect is a form of German. So while the area is currently occupied by France, the native people are German.
I did not know that. Thank you.
This banquet is proof that France still has ‘diversity’ and it is being ‘celebrated.’
But not everyone is cheering. For the radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI - France Unbowed), the banquets have a dark side.LFI says it has evidence of racist chanting, and of immigrant staff being insulted. With pork regularly on the menu, they say the feasts are purposely designed to exclude Muslims and vegetarians.
And they point to the financial involvement of an ultra-conservative entrepreneur called Pierre-Edouard Stérin as evidence of a masked ulterior motivation - to promote the agenda of the hard right.
And then there is this (cue scary music...)
The crowd in Colmar was predominantly – but not exclusively – white, and many said they were happy to be able to celebrate in a traditional way among friends. But the BBC saw no behaviour and heard no language that could be construed as offensive.
But thankfully France's hard left LFI party is taking action.
"They don't represent modern France, which is a place rich in its diversity."Her party is trying to get local authorities to stop the banquets, and has had an initial success in the Brittany town of Quimper.
“””” €81 (£70) buying you four courses of local gastronomy, all the wine you can drink, and several hours of sing-along camaraderie.”””””
I experienced that with the French army, fine food, (red jacketed enlisted servers) all the free wine you wanted, including at breakfast since the free bottles were just there all the time, or you could buy better wines at the mess hall entrance, and being led in cheers and song by the regimental commander on Camerone Day, but first he made everyone in the mess fill their glass with wine and chug it before anything started, that sort of set the mood for a good long lunch with lots of jokes and small declarations.
All the French army meals were excellent.
So what is controversial?!
Anything the Left doesn’t like.
“”””So while the area is currently occupied by France””””
Annexed by France in 1648, that was quite a while ago, Germany took it for about 75 years since then but lost it again to France.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
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