Looking at the photo, you see a customer desperately looking for a seat in a crowded restaurant after having helped himself to the buffet; and basically, that is what it was. On the opening day of the Paris Agricultural Show on Saturday, February 24, Emmanuel Macron never stopped searching for his place. Where was it? Backstage with his inner circle? In the fray? Behind the security cordon? With the farmers and their animals? Safely in his official car? Or simply somewhere else? Over the course of his 13-hour visit, the president never seemed to find the right table to put that damn tray down.
On the platter, a classic mixed assortment. Cheese and cold cuts, and the obvious, with saucisson reigning supreme. Having mastered the art of preserving pork and salt preparations, the Romans perfected the first version of that dried sausage, then known as botularius in Latin. An object of desire in Rome, this sausage later met with similar success in Gaul, where gourmets enjoyed it with their Cervoise beer. What an era!
The sausage may have been of Roman origin, but the slices on the president's plate, like the pieces of cheese that kept them company, were European. At least, that is what we can deduce from the blue flags with yellow stars pinned into the delicacies. They also serve to remind us that the very first version envisaged for the European flag featured 15 golden stars (like the number of member countries of the Council of Europe at the time), not 12. And that its background was blue, but a much lighter azure than that adopted in the end.
While on the subject of the European Union, let's go on to note that Macron was wearing a silk grenadine tie that day, along with his usual white shirt and navy suit. Why that name? Quite simply because it was in the Granada region of Spain that this textured material was invented in the Middle Ages. But today, the know-how about silk grenadine and the machines used to weave it are found exclusively in the Como region of Italy.
Finally, how can we fail to notice that one of the president's security men, behind Macron, is wearing a thick turtleneck sweater under a suit jacket, in other words, the incongruous clothing combination perpetuated from generation to generation, while almost certainly guaranteeing to be too hot, too tight and looking like an aging ladies’ man? Clearly, the gentleman likes to take risks. Almost as much as this president trying to find his place in a hostile agricultural fair.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.