There Were No Crumbs Left
Yancey, French Presidential candidate Jose Bove and Bun
The other night I had dinner with one of my heroes, French presidential candidate, Jose Bove. Bove is the French Roquefort cheese farmer turned anti-globalization activist who initially became world famous for driving a tractor through a McDonald’s in Millau in 1999.
One of the many reasons I love French culture is that the French are tremendous romantics. France is one of the few places where one can drive a tractor through a McDonald’s one day and run for president the next. In this year’s French presidential election he said that he is running for the people without a voice.
Bove has supported the causes of small French organic farmers, Tahitians, Palestinians, Kanaks and indigenous Melanesians. I may not agree with all of his politics but I have to respect a person who puts the little people and the environment before big business and profit.
Famed anthropologist David Graber brought him in for dinner. Bove was one of the easiest customers I have ever had to please. He insisted on nothing and enjoyed the food, the drink, and the camaraderie in the proper French fashion. From his notorious media image, I expected a defiant political rebel, and instead found his easy-going enthusiasm refreshing. Though he is a staunch defender of traditional food cultures and my cuisine can easily represent the type of cultural homogenization that America has pioneered, he enjoyed it nonetheless.
Out of respect for Bove, many of the ingredients that I used to make his dinner was locally grown. Of course, all of the recipes were mine with the usual mixture of international influences. I created a central course of mini Big Macs with tuna sashimi to commemorate his drive through McDonald’s, which garnered the laughs that I was hoping for.
Towards the end of dinner, we smoked Connecticut tobacco in our pipes and drank lots of locally picked sassafras sake that I brewed for the occasion. As the table was finally cleared, I noticed that there were no Big Macs left, and not even a crumb on Bove’s plate.
