Published in Het Nieuwsblad on 9 August 2026 — text & photos: Frederik Laurens.
Read the original article (NL).
Nevele/Deinze — An April Fools’ joke by hobby cook Philippe Meirlaen has a tasty sequel. At the flea market in Nevele he let the general public taste his self-invented Fluppe Burger for the first time on Sunday.
Visitors to the Nevele flea market got their first taste of Philippe Meirlaen’s Fluppe Burger on Sunday. The IT specialist and hobby cook has lived in Nevele for four years and came up with the burger after an April Fools’ joke unexpectedly caused a stir.
“On 1 April I posted on Facebook that I was opening a new restaurant, Chez Philippe,” Philippe says. “People started congratulating me from far and wide. I felt a bit awkward about it and wanted to give something culinary back.”
Local butcher
During an evening with a few befriended hospitality entrepreneurs, the idea for the Fluppe Burger was born. “Suddenly the April Fools’ joke was no longer a joke, but a fact,” says Philippe, who also trained as a chef at PIVA in Antwerp.
For the meat he works with butcher Mortier in Nevele. There will be several versions of the burger. Besides a smaller Walking Dinner Edition there is a Party Edition, served at the flea market, and a larger Resto Edition made with a combination of Belgian Blue beef and Brasvar pork. A vegetarian variant and a fish burger are being considered too.
Fluppe Beer
“It is going very smoothly and people find it delicious,” Philippe says. He gets help from several befriended hospitality entrepreneurs and local traders. That collaboration is, in his view, an essential part of the project. “Fluppe Burger is a connecting burger. It brings entrepreneurs and people who love good food together.”
The story continues on 29 August during Hapje Tapje in Nevele.
Organization: Feest & Sportcomité Niet Versaegen Nevele.
At Hapje Tapje, alongside the burger, a matching Fluppe Beer will be presented, brewed together with brewery Van Steenberge.
