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King Charles’ €500K lobster dinner blows hole in French presidency’s budget (www.politico.eu)

submitted 2 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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A decadent dinner costing nearly €475,000 for the U.K.’s King Charles III helped push France’s Élysée Palace — the office of President Emmanuel Macron —to a record high deficit last year.

France’s love for grand gestures and opulent dining are fully in evidence in the pages of a damning yearly audit of the Élysée’s budget, released on Monday by the Cour des Comptes, France’s top audit court.

The Élysée’s spending, which includes costs related to the president’s diplomatic and presidential duties as well as administration, personnel, security and estate management, reached a whopping €125 million, plunging the books €8.3 million into the red.

Among the biggest deficit drivers were two luxurious state dinners, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King Charles III.

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[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 107 points 2 months ago

I'm all for eating a nice dinner. But how do you get to a dinner bill that size?

[-] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 91 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Famous chefs who have more people requesting them than they have time in the day, so they go to whoever pays the most.

Like, Gordon Ramsey still does private events, but only if they pay more than he could be making with his TV deals.

[-] bluGill@kbin.run 62 points 2 months ago

Meanwhile just as good chefs that didn't get the fame break (or possibly better but their personality means they shouldn't be let out of the kitchen) are struggling to make ends meet.

[-] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 40 points 2 months ago

same as it ever was.

Pick an industry that is also the case. In marketing There are people earning 7 figures for configuring a Google ads deck that a talented undergrad could do in half the time

In acting you can just throw a dart at the SAG directory.

Painting, music, business administration, politics. You name it.

[-] TriPolarBearz@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago

Gordon: welcome to my fancy private dinner experience. What can I make for you?

Guest: I would like your finest grilled cheese sandwich please.

Gordon: oh fuck, oh shit!

[-] Glowy@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

You may have to be more specific with the definition of grilled cheese for him.

Ramsay's "ultimate" grilled cheese

[-] deranger@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 months ago

What the fuck was that?? I was hoping for some chronic grilly chee but that was an abomination. I’ve seen children make better grilled cheese sandwiches.

[-] aStonedSanta@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

I wonder if he has ever publicly commented about that video lmao.

[-] Soggy@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

He's talked about it a bit in response to criticism, IIRC he said his producer kinda set him up for failure. I'm pretty sure it comes up here https://youtu.be/ENhfIeZF_AY?si=KHczjpQYCkBgTGaG (long video but very much worth it if you care about food)

[-] UselesslyBrisk@infosec.pub 3 points 2 months ago

For one...thats a melt. And it doesnt look great. But I think there in lies the rub. even the best chefs get there by experimenting and trying new things and even then, when they get outside their wheelhouse, they arent any better than that dude at your local diner.

[-] Obi@sopuli.xyz 11 points 2 months ago

You people make me sick.

A grilled cheese consists of only these following items. Cheese. Bread with spread (usually butter). This entire subreddit consist of "melts". Almost every "grilled cheese" sandwich i see on here has other items added to it. The fact that this subreddit is called "grilledcheese" is nothing short of utter blasphemy.

Let me start out by saying I have nothing against melts, I just hate their association with sandwiches that are not grilled cheeses. Adding cheese to your tuna sandwich? It's called a Tuna melt. Totally different. Want to add bacon and some pretentious bread crumbs with spinach? I don't know what the hell you'd call that but it's not a grilled cheese.

I would be more than willing to wager I've eaten more grilled cheeses in my 21 years than any of you had in your entire lives. I have one almost everyday and sometimes more than just one sandwich. Want to personalize your grilled cheese? Use a mix of different cheeses or use sourdough or french bread. But if you want to add some pulled pork and take a picture of it, make your own subreddit entitled "melts" because that is not a fucking grilled cheese.

I'm not a religious man nor am I anything close to a culinary expert. But as a bland white mid-western male I am honestly the most passionate person when it comes to grilled cheese and mac & cheese. All of you foodies stay the hell away from our grilled cheeses and stop associating your sandwich melts with them. Yet again, it is utter blasphemy and it rocks me to the core of my pale being.

Shit, I stopped lurking after 3 years and made this account for the sole purpose of posting this. I've seen post after post of peoples "grilled cheeses" all over reddit and it's been driving me insane. The moment I saw this subreddit this morning I finally snapped. Hell, I may even start my own subreddit just because I know this one exists now.

You god damn heretics. Respect the grilled cheese and stop changing it into whatever you like and love it for it what it is. Or make your damn melt sandwich and call it for what it is. A melt.

[-] dch82@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago

Honey wake up new copypasta just dropped

[-] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

Definitely not a new copypasta. That's from a famous reddit post from years ago.

My favorite part is, shortly after the original post was made r/grilledcheese (the sub it was posted in) was filled with memes like this:

[-] UselesslyBrisk@infosec.pub 1 points 2 months ago

Its a copypasta from /r/grilledcheese from some years back.

[-] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world -5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Ain't reddit you stoopid... bot?

[-] Redex68@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

That's almost certainly just a copypasta

[-] 5too@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

More of a callback, I think: https://www.reddit.com/r/grilledcheese/comments/2or1p3/you_people_make_me_sick/

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Lol I can hear him saying that.

Also for good measure

"for dessert I'd like, a banana freshly peeled with a small glass of grocery store orange juice."

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Good point

[-] snooggums@midwest.social 29 points 2 months ago

Perfection costs a whole lot more than really, really good because costs go up exponentially.

You need multiple times the staff on hand to cook and server everything at the same time, and they should be highly paid professionals. You need to be able to discard the majority of your food supplies, which already cost a lot more than normal, to have the perfect version of every dish. The setting probably costs a lot to set up and clean up after, and attention to detail costs time and money.

It is a huge waste, but that is why it costs so much.

[-] BakerBagel@midwest.social 9 points 2 months ago

Everyone also has to pass a bunch of security and background checks, which costs money as well. And i am sure the supply chains for staye dinners are more expensive for the same reason

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Good explanation. Still having a hard time on seeing that much, but good explanation

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

We are talking about taste, all "perfection" is made up there.

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 25 points 2 months ago

Mark up everything by 500%

[-] MenacingPerson@lemm.ee 23 points 2 months ago

Do you mean 500x? Because that looks like 500x.

[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago

Well, la de da with your fancy regular €100K dinners.

[-] jqubed@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago

Step one is probably hosting it at the Palace of Versailles

[-] Deestan@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago

They felt they had money to burn after cutting pensions?

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

I misread that at first and thought you said "cutting peasants".

[-] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

Close enough really

[-] Deestan@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Well it is France.

[-] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 2 months ago

Hand fished, gold coated lobster: $1,000 Cooking the lobster: $474,000

this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024

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