In Almere they declared war on the fries

All benches on the square between the Flevo Hospital and the Hogeschool Windesheim are occupied. On a third of them, people with a cone of fries are in their hand. The fries comes from the black trailer next to it: the cheerful chip shop of Jacqueline Keijser. « She is an icon in Almere. Almost everyone thinks it’s the best fries in the city, » says Eileen Walet from one of the benches. When she was in the hospital for a few weeks after the birth of her daughter Lily, she preferred to skip the hospital food. « Too often we often got a fries with Jacqueline, » she says laughing.

That will no longer be possible. The municipality of Almere wants to ban fried food within a hundred meters from (high) schools and the hospital. The reason is the high percentage of overweight in the city: according to the Public Health Institute RIVM, more than half of the Almeerders are too heavy. All seven coalition parties found when drawing up the coalition agreement last year that something had to be done about it.

Six stalls

Alderman Maaike Veeningen (D66) worked out the agreement for a proposal. Because the term ‘unhealthy food’ is legally difficult to define, she opted for a defined category: fried products. And because fixed stores and catering businesses are difficult to move, the proposal is limited to location holders. The result is that only six stalls are approached throughout the city. « It is a choice between doing something, or doing nothing at all, » says the alderman about the approach.

Other municipalities also try to make their food environment healthier. Amsterdam limits the location of new fast food tents in neighborhoods where the offer is already large. Ede-Wageningen focuses on healthy choices around the station. But Almere is the first to set hard limits with her proposals to which food can be sold where.

In the canteen of the Flevo Hospital, a canteen employee eats two croquettes. There are sausage rolls on the counter. A visitor licks an ice cream. Just outside the main entrance of the hospital is the pizza chain Papa John’s. A staircase leads to the Febo. That image will remain the same in the future. Only without cheerful fries stall.

About 150 meters from the cheerful chip shop sells Benny’s chicken fried chicken. The stall is one of the six stalls that should leave by the lecture proposal: Benny’s Chicken is probably too close to another location of Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. Magna Richardson talks to the sellers from her electric wheelchair. She comes here every day, she says. « I am aware that I have to eat healthier, so I usually leave the chicken. I especially come for a chat. »

Forbidden zone

« I feel discriminated against, » says Frietbakker Jacqueline Keijser. Shifting less than 100 meters sounds clear, but in practice there are few suitable locations outside the forbidden zone in the immediate vicinity. Whether permits are issued for this at all, and what stall is eligible for it is questionable. There are also a busy motorway, a tunnel and a narrow, covered shopping street in the immediate vicinity. There is a lake on the other side of the hospital. « I prefer to bake fries in a sunny country than I am going to look for a new location here, » she adds.

Last week Keijser and other maternity holders expressed their dissatisfaction during a municipal meeting. First fries spoke, when the spring rolls, to the end of the Churros. « Our spring rolls are freshly prepared and are full of vegetables. Why are we? », A location holder reads. There is a dozen oliebollen bakers on the stage. Their stalls fall outside the hundred meter rule, but they come to show solidarity. Frustrated gestures. Loudly grumbling. The chairman must manen to silence.

Afterwards, Oliebollenbakker Rinaldo van den Houten explains why they cannot easily sell a different, non-fried snack as maternity holders. « You make an investment of 250,000 euros to have your stall built. Depending on what you make, each stall has its own design. For oliebollen you need, for example, an oven of 60,000 euros. With that material you cannot suddenly grill kebab. »

‘Almost the entire city’

Support for the proposal is also crumbling within the coalition, despite the fact that all parties have previously signed the agreement for a healthier Almere. Jordy Hulzebos from Leefbaar Almere says that his party will submit a motion against the proposal. « If you draw a circle (of 100 meters) around all schools, you will see that the proposed policy covers almost the entire city, » he says in the hall.

The discussion in the city council will probably not be continued until June. « This proposal does not get through. There are already many noises against it within the coalition, » says fraction assistant Jeroen Dobber of Leefbaar Almere later at the coffee machine against Keijser. Not only with his party, but also with D66, PvdA and CDA. And if it doesn’t work from the inside, Dobber already foresees a few fallback routes: « Maybe we can elevate oliebollen and fries to cultural heritage. In Belgium they have also done that with fries. »

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