Who plays pétanque?

Earlier this year, I wrote about the eclectic mix of professions you encounter at pétanque games.

Looking at the list of players that are coming to the Open, one trade definitely sticks out: chefs. And not just any chefs!
Jacques Pépin, Michel Nischan, and Jean Banchet are some of the names that sounded extremely familiar. We're honored that they're taking time out from their busy schedule to join in.

Apart from the fact that gourmet food and France - the birthplace of pétanque - go hand in hand, what makes pétanque so appealing to them?

Suppose you have an hour to kill between lunch and dinner. That's not enough time to get to a tennis court or - even less so - to a golf course. Not even worth getting in your car to drive anywhere. But plenty of time to pick up a set of boules and play a couple rounds of pétanque with your colleagues in the backyard behind the kitchen.

The same goes for people in the movie industry, whose schedule often looks like gruyère cheese. They have to wait hours for the next shoot, but must to stay on location. A quick game of pétanque between the RV's does the trick.

In both cases, when duty calls, it is easy to stop the game after a round, just remember the score and pick it back up where you left off.

Except in the old days in France, when movie producers had to wait for the actors to finish their games...