Who are De Fielesoofen?

De Fielesoofen are a bunch of friends that are united by their love for the barbecue.

Those friends, they are president Rudy, Patrick, Eric, Hans , Steven J (the tall one) and Steven D (the little one). Aged between 36 and 70 years old, and with very different day jobs, they are united by the love for barbecuing and the promotion of culinary cooking.

United under the slogan 'Fire, Food, Friendship and Fun', or in short: 'Lollebolleleute'.

contact: de.fielesoofen@live.be

De Fielesoofen

• Rudy Jaques (president)
• Patrick Vanrietvelde (treasurer)
• Steven Declerck (secretary)
• Hans Neels (event manager)
• Eric Dewulf (maitre)
• Steven Jonckheere (logistics)

In 2009, they organised the Belgian Championship BBQ in Torhout, the capital of the Houtland region. The number of participating teams increased to 35 teams.

Cherry on the top was the organisation of the European Championship BBQ in 2012 in Torhout. No fewer than 60 teams from France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Poland - even some Austrian and Swiss cowbells rang - came to West Flanders. The atmosphere in Torhout left nothing to be desired and the streets of Torhout were filled with the best BBQ flavours.

Of course, they also participated in several BBQ competitions themselves.

In 2009, they participated in the Jack Daniel's World Championship in Lynchburg, Tennessee. A year later, they participated in the Belgian Championship BBQ in Genk, Limburg. In both competitions, the dishes looked great and De Fielesoofen won very nice prizes.

The city of Torhout is very grateful to the entrepreneurial team and appreciates them for attracting the city with their (bbq) initiatives and receiving the annual Staff Pollet Prize.

Their fire cannot be put out. After a short period of reflection, they came up with a new initiative namely the Guinness World Record with a brand new and ambitious challenge: they want to become the team that can add the longest BBQ marathon (without interruption) for at least a day and a half (42 hours) to their record of achievements. They will break the world record in 2017 by grilling a whopping 41h 3min and 3sec with a four-member team non-stop for the masses. De Fielesoofen will be honoured for their achievement at the 2018 New Year drink.

A new milestone for the fielesoofen in 2019 is the anniversary of 15 years of BBQ Fielesoofen. To celebrate this 15-year anniversary, the fielesoofen will transform Torhout's city park into a fielesoofen village with a two-day barbecue festival. This event will be a grand folk festival.

The city of Torhout saw that it was good and is asking De Fielesoofen to make the city a barbecue city with an annual grill event. It is suggested that fixed public barbecues be installed in the town to reinforce this idea.

Meanwhile, De Fielesoofen are not sitting still but are reviving the Belgian branch of the World Barbecue Association and establishing the Belgian Barbecue Association. WBQA Belgium has been back in business since 2019, promoting world-class culinary barbecue.

To expand their palmares a little further, De Fielesoofen are applying to host the WBQA World Barbecue Championship in Torhout 2020. After a lot of time, energy and perseverance, their wishes will be fulfilled. With the full support of city of Torhout, the International WBQA and the many sympathisers, the fielesoofen are organising the biggest international barbecue competition in the centre of Torhout. The weekend of 2, 3 and 4 September 2022 is circled on the agenda for a grand and international barbecue feast and competition.