The duo Are you going to finish your plate? became known for his amusing online reviews of the show The Chiefs !, where irony and puns never hid a true passion for the famous culinary show hosted by Élyse Marquis. The height of gratitude and ecstasy – for them! –, it is the latter who signs the preface to the essay published this spring by Caroline Décoste and Mathieu Charlebois, entitled Are you going to finish your plate? – Trials and pranks between two grocery aisles.
Indeed, beyond their fascination for The Chiefs ! and all its codes, it is food in general that interests the two friends, particularly food that is processed (a lot). Fat, salt, sugar: the more there is, the happier they are, and this book is a kind of anthology of culinary strangeness, a tribute to the unhealthy, an ode to bad taste which is comforting.
We therefore find intact their love of popular culture, their sometimes schoolboy, sometimes hidden humor, and their exploded form. A chapter with a “ Top 10 definitive of the best soft drinks » – with “Oran’ade” in first position -, another on the instructions for reheating a frozen Michelina’s lasagna, a mac’n’cheese version of the class struggle, the best way to enjoy a Kit Kat: the Vas -you have an eye for detail and they pass a host of products under their critical or joyful lens, from the Big Mac to Pacini’s bread bar, from chocolate pizza to Paris-Pâté, from the Monster to Ricardo’s infinite accessories, from vegetarian meat with pumpkin spice.
PHOTO CARMÉLIE JACOB PROVIDED BY WILL YOU FINISH YOUR PLATE?
Caroline Décoste and Mathieu Charlebois
This rolling fire, supplemented by false quotes and reworked excerpts of songs, often makes us laugh. We laugh, we smile, we find them a bit nonos or damn relevant. But the accumulation of the process makes us a little tired of this series of short texts, which ends with a call to “eat together”.
Of course the authors have a sociological vision of food, and we don’t doubt for a single second that this is the objective behind the book. But we lose sight of it a little between the synopsis of a fake cooking show and a fight between Map-O-Spread and Grenache caramel.
Probably reading in small doses is more appropriate for this type of work. If each chapter is a little gem of fun, when they are put together, the effect is diluted by the overflow of saturated fat and refined sugar. Rather than shy away from the (real) pleasure of entering the offbeat world of Caroline Décoste and Mathieu Charlebois, we suggest stretching it out: if you want to finish your plate, it’s better to take the time to taste each element, otherwise we risk throwing away half of it.
Are you going to finish your plate?
Quebec America
285 pages