France’s pastry attacks have a language of their own

Leader of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, was flour-bombed by two masked men in May during a Fête du Travail rally in Amiens.

One of the men wore a scarf with communist symbols and was heard shouting “Le PS, dehors” (“Out with the Socialist Party”).

Considering France’s love for boulangeries and pâtisseries, it seems fitting that flour, eggs and tarts sometimes become sources of ammunition – with political figures most often taking the hit.

The language equally has plenty of colourful vocabulary to go alongside these attentats pâtissiers or pastry attacks.

Flour- and tart-throwing verbs, but not for eggs

The French language has specific terms to describe the act of covering someone with flour (enfarinage) or throwing a tart at their face (entartage).

In turn, recipients of the attacks are described as enfariné or entarté (‘floured’ or ‘caked’).

Those on the receiving end of these attentats pâtissiers often classify the acts as premeditated assaults, though public opinion tends to see them more as pranks.

They have long been used as ways of showing discontent towards controversial personalities.

On November 25 last year, a teenager launched a flour bomb at RN leader Jordan Bardella during the Sainte-Catherine Agricultural Fair in Vesoul (Haute-Saône).

The 17-year-old spent a night in prison and was then released from police custody.

Just four days later, on November 29, Mr Bardella was ‘egged’ while signing copies of his book in Moissac (Tarn-et-Garonne).

The retiree who cracked the egg over his head went to trial in January, and was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and fined €500.

Also in Moissac, far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour was egged on the head in the run up to the legislative elections in March 2022.

Eggs were also thrown at Marine le Pen while campaigning in Saint-Armand-les-Eaux (Nord) a few months later.

Unlike for flour and tarts, there is no specific verb for ‘egging’ someone, so you would say jeter des oeufs (throwing eggs) or écraser un oeuf if cracking an egg on someone's head.

Songs for entartage

Alongside eggs and flour, tarts filled with cream, custard or fruit have also been used to target individuals.

“The best-known ‘victim’ is Bernard-Henri Lévy [French writer, philosopher and filmmaker], regarded by many as a ‘cuistre’ (oaf),” said Pascal Cauchy, Senior Lecturer in History at Sciences Po Paris and Deputy Secretary-General of the International Committee of Historical Sciences.

Mr Lévy is known for his political engagement and often controversial views.

Splattered by around ten tarts throughout his career, he has been targeted multiple times by a Belgian man named Noël Godin, nicknamed l'Entarteur (the man who throws tarts at people).

He has also launched tarts at the likes of Bill Gates and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Lévy’s misfortune was the inspiration behind the humorous, upbeat song, L'Entarté, written by French singer Renaud in 2002.

One of the song’s verses goes:

J’veux des entarteurs par milliers

J’vais moi même apprendre le métier

Y’en a bientôt qui vont trinquer

C’est pas les cibles qui vont manquer

Literally:

I want to see thousands of pie-throwers

I’ll learn the trade myself

Some people are in for a nasty surprise

There’ll be no shortage of targets

Tomato attacks

Other pastry attack victims include former Prime Minister François Bayrou who was pied in the face in 2002, as was Ségolène Royal, the first woman in France's history to reach the second round in a presidential election, in 2006.

François Hollande, was enfariné in 2012, as well as former French Prime Ministers Manuel Valls and François Fillon who have each been flour-bombed during their careers.

Emmanuel Macron was egged in 2016 when he was the Economy minister, and soon after his presidential victory he was showered with cherry tomatoes at a market in Cergy (Val-d'Oise), although reportedly these did not actually hit him.

“On the theme of fruit and vegetables, the most famous incident was Guy Mollet, President of the Conseil socialiste, who was pelted with tomatoes upon his arrival in Algiers in 1956,” said Mr Cauchy, admitting however that he believes the food-throwing trend – seen not only in France – is slowly falling out of fashion.