It was a humble frite that got me thinking.
Sitting in a small taverna that was a family home on the outskirts of a tiny village in the mountains, my nephew managed to order a few items and the local wine from the warm hearted grandmother who owned the place.
The TV was in the next room, showing members of the Golden Prawn being bustled in and out of courts, the grandfather poked his head out of the kitchen, made a grimace and retreated back to the stove.
There was nobody else around.
When the food came, it looked delicious and I reached out to a plate of chips, noticing they were hand cut, misshapen and lighter in colour than the legendary Belgian frite or the limp Brit chip. Biting into it, there was a lovely crunch and then the taste of the potato exploded in my mouth, with a subtlety and rolling flavour and I was suddenly back in my mother’s kitchen as a small boy.
It’s been a long time since a potato tasted as it should. The rest of the meal, simple, plain dishes were also a pleasure and surprise. The house red was delicious, better than you’d find in Brussels.
After we had finished, feeling the satisfaction you can only find from a meal that nourishes the heart as well as the soul, we asked for the bill.
With a slight apologetic air, the grandmother passed me the bill, written in Greek and itemised, but I stared at it looking for the total. Sensing confusion, the till was rung up, so the lady could show the final figure. €11.60.
Sometimes it’s great to find a good deal, or that little place that ‘only locals’ go to is one of the joys of travelling, but that’s not how I felt.
I felt ashamed. I felt shame that Brussels, and for my sins, I am also part of the Brussels Machine, had left this decent family offer food at prices that just can’t possibly cover their costs, their taxes or make up for their diminishing pensions.
That they can still offer not only hospitality and the food where you can taste the heart and soul of the cook, is a testament to them.
The European Union was going to build a ‘social Europe’ – remember that? Instead those in power built a Corporate Europe, and this Europe is ripping apart societies, throwing away every value they once pretended to have so that German banks can have some sort of economic lebensraum.
The predicted consequences are happening as predicted.
Here, in this place that is a little paradise, where family values reign, where there is a real sense of community and belonging, is getting broken.
You can pass through and see the surface, but look deeper, linger a while, and you see that open pleasant smile is masking the pain you can glimpse in their eyes, where behind the eyes you can see the strain, the exhaustion of a crisis that never seems to end.
There are the clues, that can of coke that’s cheaper than in Brussels has a 23% tax, leaving margins thinner than Barroso’s re-election chances.
These honest and hard working people deserve better, we all deserve better. We need to start again and build a new Europe, one built from the bottom up, where the citizen is the prime concern.
Rip it up and start again.
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