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The scandal of France’s shrimp-stealing Top Chef

Naoëlle d'Hainaut might have been acclaimed as France's Top Chef for 2013, but a fateful moral slip involving a bowl of shrimp has brought a tidal wave of hatred upon her. Our French Face of the Week won the prize money, but at what cost?

Published: 10 May 2013 14:28 CEST

The scandal of France's shrimp-stealing Top Chef

France's culinary Macchiavelli, Naoëlle D’Hainaut, considers stealing her opponent's shrimp, on her way to being crowned France's Top Chef 2013. Photo: 20 Minutes/Dailymotion

Who is Naoëlle d’Hainaut?

She is the pretty, unscrupulous 29-year-old chef who won the French version of the TV talent show Masterchef this year which in France is called Top Chef.

Why is she in the news this week?

Well winning Top Chef was enough to get her into the news but the fact she progressed to the show’s finale only after stealing shrimps from her rival, Yoni, while his back was turned during their cook-off, meant her victory sparked outrage among fans of the show and the public at large.

D’Hainaut’s moment of dishonesty got moral pulses racing all over France, and she immediately became a figure of hate.

After pocketing the €100,000 prize money, thousands clamoured for her Machiavellian triumph to be overturned.

This week the public got a semblance of revenge.

On Monday night, d’Hainaut faced off against last year’s winner Jean Imbert, and in a public phone-in to choose the victor, d’Hainaut was somewhat predictably massacred by a gleefully vengeful French audience, despite earlier apologizing for her behaviour.

What exactly happened?

This video shows d’Hainaut’s defining moment. Amid the show’s dramatic soundtrack, she struggles with the moral conundrum before her. “I see a big bowl of shrimp over at Yoni’s counter…And then I say to myself ‘What are you going to do?’”

In the end d’Hainaut – who is by all accounts quite a promising and accomplished chef anyway – makes a sort of Faustian pact: stealing the shrimp and winning the show, but at the same time losing the love of the public.

Naoëlle de top chef surprise en train de voler par 20Minutes

What has the reaction been like?

Pretty hateful, to be honest. A Facebook page called ‘Anti-Naoëlle Top Chef 2013’ has more than 81,000 likes, and a photo of d’Hainaut reacting to her 77 to 23 percent rejection by the French public, has been shared by more than 500 users.

Users have left comments like: “She’s a filthy, thieving cheat!” and “Detestable, miserable character..”

One user loved the concept and spirit of the campaign, but disapproved of its profile picture – a straightforward photo of D’Hainaut herself.

“Excellent…But could you change your profile picture? It’s really annoying to see her smiling face every time I log on to Facebook.”

Others, including the page’s moderator, seem to be more interested in an orchestrated, strategic lobbying campaign to reverse d’Hainaut’s triumph, though the TV channel M6 have dismissed any such attempts.

“Please – do not watch Monday’s contest. It’s the only means at our disposal to make our message heard…M6 will make money from your text messages…And anyway the winner was already chosen a long time ago…” said a post on May 3rd.

As for the ethical opprobrium, it has been well-articulated and widespread, as one Twitter user reflected.

“I find you enormously lacking in humility. The contest absolutely does not require the kind of base methods you’re employing.”

@naoelletopchefJe trouves que tu manques énormément d'humilité!! La compétition ne necessite pas forcement la bassesse comme tu l'utilise!

— Didgi71 (@didgi71) April 22, 2013

What else has she done?

Well, before she sent 77 percent of French TV viewers into moral outrage, d'Hainaut was sous-chef at the world-famous Bristol hotel in Paris.

Originally from the Oise department in northern France, she was by her own account a troubled, directionless teenager until a schoolteacher got her interested in cooking.

With her €100,000 in prize money, d’Hainaut has said she intends to set up a restaurant of her own in the south of France.

However after all the outrage she caused it might be a good idea if she opened it under a different name.

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Essential guide for travelling with allergies in Sweden

EU allergy laws

“Sweden is covered by EU laws on the 14 most common dangerous food allergens,” Liselott Florén, head of communications at Sweden’s Asthma and Allergy Association, told The Local. “When you eat out in restaurants, cafés, hotels, or similar places, they are legally obliged to be able to explain what the food contains.”

When buying prepackaged food, you’ll usually see any ingredients containing one of these allergens highlighted in bold or capital letters. Here’s a list of the 14 most common food allergens with their Swedish translations.

Cereals containing gluten – spannmål, som innehåller gluten
Crustaceans – kräftdjur
Eggs – ägg
Fish – fisk
Peanuts – jordnötter
Soy beans – sojabönor
Milk – mjölk
Nuts/tree nuts – nötter
Celery – selleri
Mustard – senap
Sesame – sesam/sesamfrön
Sulphur dioxide and sulphites – svaveldioxid och sulfit
Lupin – lupin
Molluscs – blötdjur

Depending on your allergy, it can be a good idea to learn the Swedish words for common food items that may contain your allergen, like ost, grädde or vasslepulver (cheese, cream or whey powder) for milk allergies, although these will often be followed by the name of the allergen in question, too. For example, you might see whey powder listed on an ingredients list as vasslepulver (av MJÖLK) [whey powder (from MILK)].

Common cereals you should look out for on Swedish ingredient lists are vete (wheat), råg (rye), havre (oats) and korn (barley), and tree nuts include hasselnöt (hazelnut), valnöt (walnut), cashewnöt (cashew nut), pekannöt (pecan nut), paranöt (brazil nut), pistage (pistachio) and makadamianöt (macadamia nut).

Be aware that this is not an exhaustive list, so double check any ingredient highlighted in bold on an ingredient list before eating to make sure it’s not something you’re allergic to.

Note that many Swedish words are compounds, so these words might crop up as part of other words too, for example matvete (wheat berries, often served as an alternative to rice) or havredryck/mjölk (oat drink/milk). These are usually highlighted in ingredient lists with the allergen in bold, for example matvete or havredryck.

Some more important phrases are kan innehålla (may contain), kan innehålla spår av (may contain traces of) and fri från (free from). People with egg or milk allergies should also be aware of the Swedish words used to mark vegan food – vegansk or växtbaserad (plant based). Don’t confuse this with vego, which can also mean vegetarian.

Be aware of common Swedish foods which may contain allergens. Some foods described as a salad (sallad) often contain mayonnaise, and eggs, fish and shellfish are all popular ingredients. Those with fish or crustacean allergies should watch out for prawns (räkor), crayfish (kräftor) and herring (sill), especially around Swedish holidays.

Sauces and gravys often contain cream, butter or milk, so make sure to check these, and there are a number of traditional Swedish cakes which contain almond (mandel) such as the mazarin and mandelmussla.

Always have a dialogue with staff in restaurants

Knowing the EU allergens can be useful for reading menus and ingredient lists in the supermarket, but Florén from the Asthma and Allergy Association warns people with allergies not to rely on written information alone when ordering in restaurants.

“In our experience, Swedes are better when it comes to oral information than written information,” she said. This is partly due to the fact that menus often change with the seasons, and may not always have the most up-to-date information.

“Swedish restaurants have come a long way when it comes to sustainability, creating new dishes based on the available ingredients. That’s why it’s always better to have a dialogue with the serving staff, or even better, the kitchen staff.”

In most restaurants, you’ll see the words ‘Allergi? Prata med personalen!’ (Allergy? Talk to staff!) displayed somewhere, and staff should be happy to help you.

Decide whether to make or buy an allergy card

Swedes are famously good at English, but for people with allergies it’s important that you’re completely confident that the person you’re talking to has understood what you’re trying to tell them.

It can be a good idea to write up some sort of message or card with information of your allergies included in Swedish which you can show to staff (you can also buy one of these online with information in multiple languages), but Florén said you should be wary of relying too much on this, and always discuss your allergies with staff directly.

“You can do that, but it’s really important that you don’t end up thinking ‘I’ve shown a card, I assume you can understand this information’, without some sort of dialogue,” she said.

It can also be a good idea to let the restaurant know about your allergies in advance, if possible, whether that’s by phone or online.

If you do choose to create a card or written message to show to staff, here are some useful phrases in Swedish which you can include:

Jag har en allvarlig/livshotande matallergi. – I have a serious/life-threatening food allergy.

Jag är allergisk mot… – I am allergic to…

Det är inte en [gluten/laktos]intolerans. – It is not a [gluten/lactose] intolerance.

You may also want to list some common foods that often include your allergen. For someone with a milk allergy, for example, you could write the following:

Det betyder att jag inte kan äta mjölk eller mjölkprodukter, som smör, grädde, gräddfil eller ost, till exempel.

(That means that I cannot eat milk or dairy products, like butter, cream, sour cream or cheese, for example.)

If you have an allergy to tree nuts, you may want to explain which nuts are included.

Jag är allergisk mot nötter, det vill säga hasselnöt, valnöt, cashewnöt, pekannöt, paranöt, pistage och makadamianöt.

(I am allergic to nuts, that means hazelnut, walnut, cashew nut, pecan nut, Brazil nut, pistachio and macadamia nut.)

You may also want to explain what you can eat. Things like pine nuts (pinjenötter), peanuts (jordnötter) and coconuts (kokos) are not tree nuts, for example, and those with milk allergies may need to explain that they can eat things like eggs (ägg) or mayonnaise (majonnäs), or traces of (spår av) certain foods.

Jag tål… – I can eat…

What to do if you have a reaction

You always have the right to acute healthcare in Sweden, no matter where you come from. This includes treatment for serious allergic reactions. The emergency number in Sweden is 112.

Depending on where you come from, the price of this healthcare varies.

Residents of Nordic and EU/EEA countries pay the same as someone living in Sweden if they need acute healthcare in other countries.

A Swede visiting the emergency room would pay around 400 kronor (35 euros), depending on the region, and around 130 kronor (12 euros) per day spent in hospital. You’d also need to pay extra for any medicine used in treatment, although this usually heavily discounted, and cannot exceed 2,850 kronor (250 euros) in a twelve month period.

Nordic residents will need to show ID and give their home address, while EU residents must show their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). It’s a good idea to always carry this with you while you’re in Sweden.

As a general rule, non-EU residents will need to pay the full price of any treatment themselves (which is why it’s a good idea to get travel insurance before your trip). The cost of a visit to the emergency room for this group is anywhere from around 3,800 to 6,000 kronor (330-520 euros). That doesn’t include any extra costs, such as medicine or an overnight hospital stay.

There are some exceptions for residents of certain countries, for example residents of Australia, Algeria, Israel, Turkey and the state of Québec in Canada can access certain healthcare at the same cost as Swedish residents.

UK residents can no longer get an EHIC card, unless they have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, but they can show a GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card) instead to access healthcare at the same costs as Swedish residents.

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