Sunday, 12:25. Caddies in hand and fitted flocked vests, the team of "La Tente des glaneurs" awaits the top start. Imposing figure and broad smile, Jean-Loup Lemaire adjusts his walkie-talkie. "Give me a nice glean!"

At a snail's pace, everyone starts in the very popular market of Wazemmes, one of the largest in Europe, with 400 exhibitors and tens of thousands of onlookers.

So many unsold items, or donations, "which no longer necessarily have the sales criteria but are perfectly consumable," explains Jean-Loup Lemaire, founder of this association born in 2010, which has since spread to 14 other cities, with a total of 163 tons of food and 22,300 baskets distributed in 2022.

The "people welcomed" enter around 14:15 p.m. and "must have the feeling of doing their market like everyone else," he continues. "All will have the same amount of products," according to their household.

Cauliflower or zucchini

"We address unconditionally" to "people who do not have access to emergency food aid", including food banks or Restos du coeur, "because they are out of scale, or they are ashamed," he adds. By offering them "privacy" and "dignity".

They are "always more numerous": after a "first peak" during the Covid epidemic, their number has according to him "jumped by 38% since January 2022, because of inflation". "Today we have three-fifths of students, a fifth of retirees and another of workers."

Cheeks rosies by the sun, Nicolas, a 37-year-old "volunteer collaborator", slaloms between the stalls. On his way, M'hamed Azzammouri, a first. "We don't work on Mondays, we don't have a cold room, so we'd rather please" than "throw away or keep," he smiles.

Further on, a florist offers dozens of huge yellow peonies, "too open", but bright.

In the tent, the "pilot" Stéphanie Maréchal takes stock: with the crowded market under the sun, the harvest is "average". It will be necessary to give the choice between "carrots and potatoes. Cauliflower or zucchini. But apples at will."

"For everyone"

Eighty people wait in the yard, including Charlotte, a social worker in partial activity after a work accident. She has been coming for a month, riddled with debts since Social Security "paid her late". With three children, "coming has become a matter of survival," says the single mother.

"I have always tightened my belt, but today I deprive myself of meat, fresh products. Coming here takes a lot of anxiety away from me."

Twig with long black hair, Sylvie, 60, says she has "struggled enormously" with unemployment at 500 euros and a small pension. "At the supermarket, I don't allow myself much. Thanks to the gleaners I can eat more with dignity, I am fitter."

Carpenter-arranger, Benjamin Salah, 42, comes to him "make ends meet difficult". "Today all", young, old, "whether we work or not, we are in the poop", he regrets.

Behind him, a student, Nell Souchet, praises "the atmosphere, the benevolence" and "the fact that there is no label" of "great precariousness", that "it is for everyone".

But fighting against this precariousness that spreads should be "the responsibility of the State", plagues Mr. Lemaire.

Michelin-starred French chef Florent Ladeyn (r) at his restaurant in Lille, May 25, 2022 © DENIS CHARLET / AFP/Archives

The president of his association, Michelin-starred Lille chef Florent Ladeyn, also calls for action before it is "too late".

These beneficiaries are, he says, "a direct reflection of the society in which we are, towards which we tend. And that's extremely worrying."

© 2023 AFP