Manger les riches – une décomposition

In February 2022 a police investigation sent shockwaves across France, revealing how Orpea, a private nursing home group, abused its residents. And its employees! Many residents put to bed with unchanged diapers; left for hours on the floor with broken limbs; agonizing in their own vomit. A so-called “business model” lauded for years by the financial press for its 15% annual returns.

Gombrowicz tells a similar story in his book Dinner at Countess Pavahoke’s. The narrator believes he is invited to the Countess’s exclusive Friday dinners, where the special guests are served simple vegetarian meals… until the menu turns out to be not so meatless. We learn that a local boy named Cauliflower has gone missing just before the cauliflower soup is served. The seated guests, undaunted by this sudden revelation, seem to be enjoying their meal without remorse. Thus, uncovering the sad truth about the underlying impulsion of today’s financialized capitalism.

Photo: © Philippe Lucchese