Item of the Week: Tchantchès marionette

The (double) item of this week consists of two famous puppets from Liège: Tchantchès and Nanesse... They are a must-see if you want to understand the culture of the city. The two characters are usually encountered as marionettes or giant puppets carried by people at folk parades. People in Liège love them and probably every kid in Liège has already enjoyed a marionette play in the Outremeuse district. Tchantchès symbolises the typical Liège chap, but nobody is really sure of what his name means. Some say Tchantchès is a diminutive of Françwès, i.e. "Francis" in Walloon dialect, but others prefer to see it as an ancient diminutive Djan (John) via Dutch "Jantje" (little John).

Tchantchès is a legendary character who is said to be born in Outremeuse, a district of Liège in the middle Ages. The name "Outremeuse" means that if you come from the centre of Liège and the district is "beyond the Meuse (river)". In his stories, he is a close friend of Charles the Great and always defends him against enemies in big battles. His favourite way of fighting is by head butting his opponent. He is the representation of the traditional personality of Liège people, because he is said to be impertinent, courageous and loyal to his friends. Finally, his big red nose gives away that he is a big lover of pèkèt, the local jenever drink.

Tchantchès, Nanesse and Charles the Great

 

Represented with a red scarf around the neck, a black cap, and a blue work coat, Tchantchès wears the typical working-class outfit from the end of the 19th century, and it is believed that it was the time when the puppet was invented in a local theatre. He also has a wife, Nanesse (Agnes in English), a basket carrier, who, although being full of integrity and a gentle character, is also strong and strict to her husband and likes hitting him with a frying pan when she gets angry. 

A parade in Liège with the giant puppets

 

Today, Tchantchès and Nanesse are famous for their puppets (or marionettes), which appear whether in theatres or as giants for a parade every year on 15th August in Outremeuse. The marionettes are particular in that they are made of around 8-10 pieces of wood, iron strings and cloth. The scenarios of the plays were usually written during the 19th century and re-enact medieval "chansons de geste". Only one rod is used to manipulate the puppet, which only allows limited and awkward body moves. This gives a funny touch to the plays, especially when characters are fighting. The play is ideal for younger kids, because the puppets discuss and interact with the audience, make jokes and ask them for advices... All I can say is kids love it and I loved it as a kid.

Item of the Week: Mitraillette

Let's talk about food again for the item of the week... A small notice: this item is not the kind of cuisine I would recommend for a healthy lifestyle, so don't abuse it. It is called a mitraillette [me-try-IT!], meaning a "sub-machine gun" in French!

Mitraillettes can be found all over the country in a place called friterie or frituur, where fries are traditionally sold in a small bar or a van (a bit like fish'n'chips places in the UK), but also in restaurants and cafés sometimes. You can also find them in the region of Lille in France, where people share with us the same fries culture. In my city, Liège, the dish can also be called a routier ("truck driver" or "road (dish)" depending on the interpretations) and in France they call it an Américain!

The sandwich, consisting of half of a baguette, some fried meat (for example, fricadelle), some sauce (mayonnaise, etc.) and... lots of fries(!), is a revolution. An American friend once said "Who would have thought of putting all these things together... in a bread? The Belgians of course!"

I personally don't like eating it too often, but I gave it a try several times, because I was really, really hungry. Sometimes there are different sizes of sandwiches, so I would advise you to start with a small one or share a regular one with other people... In fact, the taste is not very surprising and not that different from eating fries and a hot dog separately... I can add that there are usually so many fries you use a small plastic fork to eat a whole bunch of them just because you feel frustrated of not being able to put the whole sandwich in your mouth.


I don't know why this fries sandwich emerged here and became so popular... Well, on further reflection, I remember that, as a kid, I always put some fries in my hamburger, so maybe it came naturally to us... But now there are even mitraillette versions of dürüms in kebab bars, or mitraillette burgers in some famous fast food lines! Let's say that all kinds of food got "machine-gunned" with fries in Belgium...

What is your experience of mitraillette? Share it in a comment!

Item of the Week: Sirop de Liège

I got the idea to launch a new section in this blog: the Item of the Week, where I will introduce you to a typical Belgian object and I will (try to) do it every week. This week, a light-blue pot you can get in any supermarket in Belgium and it comes from my city... Liège!

 

Le Sirop de Liège (or Liège syrup) is made of evaporated fruit juices, mostly apple and pear ones, and is a traditional spread from the province of Liège (mostly the city of Herve). It is dark-brown and has a sort of unexpected taste. Unlike peanut butter or nutella, you wouldn't like to put it on a spoon and eat it like that, but rather on bread at least. Personally, I love it on white cheese in a sandwich, because it gives all the sweet taste, without being too sugary.

More importantly, it is also used in the preparation of the Boulet à la Liégeoise, one of the most famous (Liège waffle excluded...) dishes of the province. We use it to make the sauce (mixed with fruits and onions) which will accompany pork-beaf meatballs and fries. After it, you will feel filled up!

After talking to Dutch people, I realised they had the same kind of spread, which they call Appelstroop (Apple Syrup), but it is not quite the same, because they don't use any pear juice in it.