“What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?” The words that would go down in history are about to be further immortalised by way of a documentary, aptly entitled The Man Who Ate A Succulent Chinese Meal.

Living legend Jack Karlson aka Mr Democracy Manifest became a sensation back in 1991 when he was arrested after a slew of offences involving paying for extravagant lunches with stolen credit cards. 

Police stormed Brisbane restaurant China Sea as Karlson was enjoying a meal with a friend, at which point he made his infamous speech to reporters waiting outside. 

Obviously, Karlson is a criminal and we would never want to glorify that – however the demonstrative speech, in which the avid luncher directed reporters to witness a headlock he was in, the “judo” skills of the arresting officers, and an unfortunate alleged grazing of Karlson’s privates, is nothing short of inspired.

Related story: 6 recipes for your late-night Chinese takeout fix

The theatrical protest captured the sometimes-questionable spirit of Australian culture of the time when long lunches reigned and attitudes toward petty crime were, shall we say, casual. 

Thirty years later, Karlson and arresting officer Stoll Watt met up once again at China Sea to reveal their plan to release a documentary on Karlson’s troubled life, and the events leading up to October 11, 1991, the fateful day the man entered the zeitgeist. 

While Karlson publicly maintains the China Sea arrest was a case of mistaken identity, and was later released, the convicted criminal has been sentenced to – and escaped from – prison three times. The most impressive prisonbreak involved impersonating a detective and walking out of court.

Related story: 6 ‘Chinese-ish’ recipes for a modern Asian-fusion feast