Credit: Jonathunder
Perhaps I did not expect to find a review of the Rolling Stones, closing their North American tour in Quebec, in Le Figaro. Something for the really old readers, I suppose.
But even less did I expect, in such a review, to see references to an indigestible-sounding Quebecois dish known as poutine. Or to learn that Mick Jagger uses "Le Roi de la Poutine" it as a nickname for the guitarist Ronnie Wood.
Looking it up at a website called Itchy Fish, I was suitably horrified to see it consisted of French fries, gravy and cheese curds. And it's a well-known Quebecois speciality, whatever impression the photograph conveys and Wood may well be a connoisseur, if being fond of such an eyesore on a plate merits such status.
You may be wondering how any man who champions the andouillette, loves snails and once considered buying deep-fried scorpion in a Beijing street market could possibly object to such a harmless, if also on the face if it charmless, concoction.
And Itchy Fish would be with you. Having described poutine as a "traditional fast food dish from Quebec", which had me scratching my head about the juxtaposition of "traditional" and "fast food", it insists this is is among local delicacies to be tried. But then it says the same of sugar pie, tourtière (a meat pie), pea soup and "old fashioned sucre à la crème" and I cannot imagine wanting to sample any of that except, maybe the meat pie.
But Itchy Fish has anticipated the turned-up noses, at least about poutine.
"If that doesn’t sound appetising to you, don’t let it put you off. Even the man who is said to have created the dish, cafe owner Fernand Lachance of Warwick, thought it was unappealing." Refinements followed, often reflecting the preferences of customers, and, the website exclaims, "the rest is history".
"If you ever find yourself in Montreal," Itchy Fish adds, "do splurge at least once and try one of the many fat- and calorie-laden versions."
I am glad to say the Stones appear to have been more tasty that I could ever imagine poutine, royal or otherwise, to be. Jagger, in good Francophone form between songs, still knows how to put on a vibrant, compelling show that triumphs over the feeling that all the band's best songs were written decades ago. The reviewer, Olivier Nuc, said that on th evidence of the Quebec gig, the Stones' final encore was still some way off.
But on the subject of Ronnie Wood and poutine, Le Figaro could hardly be sterner. "The clumsy riffs and approximate harmonies of Keith Richards's clone are much more indigestible than the dish," wrote Nuc.
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