On 26 March the town of Bailleul (59 Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais) celebrates the "International" Potjevleesch festival, although you do somehow doubt if there will many entries from the UK. This is a local Flemish dish (often found in the country around Dunkerque and Lille) which literally means "meat casserole" BUT the peculiarities are that it usually contains 3 types of meat, traditionally chicken, rabbit and veal shin slowly cooked - AND it is served cold in its own jelly. So when I first asked what it was in the restaurant to be told it was a meat casserole, I expected something hearty and warming! It was certainly tasty, and is clearly popular with the locals.
For more info on the festival and the dish see http://www.montsdeflandre.fr/
As there is no locally grown wine in the region, you can accompany the dish with some of the local and Belgian beers which are widely available - France and Belgium do seem to merge in this region - it was really only the different roadsigns which draw your attention to having crossed an international frontier - that and the use of the pretty impenetrable Flemish language!
