The Citadel of Dinant
September 6, 2009
Dinant from the Citadel
Chapitre du Tournoi
Our plan was just to come along to Dinant, see the Citadel and the statue of a saxophone and perhaps try the local biscuit couque (the hardest biscuit in Europe, which is moulded into interesting scenes before being baked. It is so hard that the bakeries just nailed examples of their biscuits onto the wall with regular nails to display them). Instead, by chance we had arrived on "Chapitre du Tournoi", a local festival.
We were happily sitting down to pizza when a giant puppet walked over the bridge into town. "Ahuh", we thought, "a Walloon festival!" Sure enough, another giant puppet and a giant horse came into town, parades started up and people were milling around wearing elaborate costumes. Best of all was the flamiche eating competition, which is a type of rich cream cheese quiche unique to the region. A fascinating event, it proved beyond a doubt why there will never be a European champion for a food eating competition.
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Dinant from the Citadel
Chapitre du Tournoi
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame,…
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame,…
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame,…
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame,…
Dinant from the Citadel
The Citadel of Dinant
The Citadel of Dinant
Dinant from the Citadel
Chapitre du Tournoi
Couque, the hardest biscuit in E…
Couque, the hardest biscuit in E…
Couque, the hardest biscuit in E…
Dinant
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Dinant
Dinant
Dinant
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame
Dinant
Dinant
Dinant
Dinant
Dinant
Dinant
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Chapitre du Tournoi
Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame
Dinant
Dinant
Dinant - the world's slowest pie eaters
Chapitre du Tournoi is held on the first Saturday of September each year. For the day, the Fraternity of the Quarteniers de la Flamiche of Dinant holds a pie-eating competition, with the regional speciality quiche "Flaminche Dinantaise". The legend tells that the "Flaminche Dinantaise" was created when a woman on her was from Romedenne to Dinant fell over and broke the eggs in her basket, which mixed with the cheese she was carrying. When the result was baked together the rich "Flaminche Dinantaise".
The event is quite recent, the Fraternity of the Quarteniers de la Flamiche of Dinant was only created in 1956 to try to keep the culture and culinary skills of Dinant alive. However it is held in a very traditional manner. Only men born in the town can partake, and families from the town dress up in special robes to serve the pie and count the slices eaten. Parades and choirs are all involved, and generally it is a fun and interesting atmosphere.
Clearly, however, the people of Dinant would not be able to compete at the Coney Island hotdog eating competition. The record (not reached this year) for pie-eating was 14 in 45 minutes. I thought that was actually pretty impressive, but once the tournament began I saw that they actually meant 14 slices. I couldn't help laughing when the waiters, wearing white gloves, brought out the slices of pie to each contestant, who then casually picked up a knife and fork and started to slowly savour the rich pie. And of course a glass of vintage burgundy was served to each contestant, the traditional accompaniment to flaminche. The eaters slowly ate their pie, sipped the wine, chatted to each other and generally had a nice time. Most retired from the competition about halfway through, having only made it through two or three slices. The winner made it to around ten slices, which is really only one largish quiche. I just don't think Europeans have it in them to gorge and shove as much food as possible into their throats without vomiting (or tasting, for that matter).
The event is quite recent, the Fraternity of the Quarteniers de la Flamiche of Dinant was only created in 1956 to try to keep the culture and culinary skills of Dinant alive. However it is held in a very traditional manner. Only men born in the town can partake, and families from the town dress up in special robes to serve the pie and count the slices eaten. Parades and choirs are all involved, and generally it is a fun and interesting atmosphere.
Clearly, however, the people of Dinant would not be able to compete at the Coney Island hotdog eating competition. The record (not reached this year) for pie-eating was 14 in 45 minutes. I thought that was actually pretty impressive, but once the tournament began I saw that they actually meant 14 slices. I couldn't help laughing when the waiters, wearing white gloves, brought out the slices of pie to each contestant, who then casually picked up a knife and fork and started to slowly savour the rich pie. And of course a glass of vintage burgundy was served to each contestant, the traditional accompaniment to flaminche. The eaters slowly ate their pie, sipped the wine, chatted to each other and generally had a nice time. Most retired from the competition about halfway through, having only made it through two or three slices. The winner made it to around ten slices, which is really only one largish quiche. I just don't think Europeans have it in them to gorge and shove as much food as possible into their throats without vomiting (or tasting, for that matter).
