British Food

Chirac jokes about British food
French President Jacques Chirac is reported to have cracked jokes about
British food at a meeting with the German and Russian leaders on Sunday.
French newspaper Liberation says Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin
laughed and joined in the banter.

"The only thing they (the English) have ever done for European agriculture
is mad cow disease," it quotes Mr Chirac as saying, within earshot of
reporters.

A French government spokesman declined to comment on the report.



The three men met at celebrations to mark the 750th anniversary of the
founding of Kaliningrad, formerly known as Koenigsberg, an exclave of Russia
surrounded by Poland and Lithuania.
"One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad," Mr Chirac went on,
according to the newspaper's report.

"After Finland, it is the country with the worst food."

Problems with Nato

Mr Chirac is also reported to have reminisced about an occasion when Lord
George Robertson, the former Secretary General of Nato, had made him try a
Scottish dish.

"That is where our difficulties with Nato come from," he said.



The comments come as France and the UK compete to hold the Olympic games in
2012, and are at loggerheads over the EU budget.
On Wednesday Mr Chirac will be flying to Gleneagles for a dinner hosted by
Queen Elizabeth II to open the G8 summit.

The menu has not been published, but most of the food, provided by the
Gleneagles hotel, will be locally sourced.

"The Taste of Scotland is always to be enjoyed at the Gleneagles Hotel, from
morning kippers or a fresh egg from a nearby farmhouse; scones and cream or
Dundee cake for afternoon tea in The Bar to Angus beef, Scottish salmon,
venison or Highland grouse for dinner," the hotel's website says.

It adds that the hotel's kitchens "benefit from the finest, freshest produce
available from Scotland's larder, and from specialist suppliers around the
world".

Hamburgers OK

US President George W Bush said in an interview with the Times newspaper
that he would not eat haggis at the summit, or wear a kilt.

Liberation says Mr Putin tried to egg Mr Chirac on at the Kaliningrad
meeting, asking him what he thought of hamburgers.

Mr Chirac replied that hamburgers were far preferable to British food.

In an interview with Time magazine two years ago, he said he had been a fan
of America since spending a summer at Harvard University in 1953, and that
he loved "junk food".

France came close to being fined in 2002, for refusing to lift a ban on
British beef, in the wake of the BSE crisis.

The European Union issued a worldwide ban on British beef exports in 1996,
but lifted it in 1999.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...pe/4649007.stm

Published: 2005/07/04 12:58:09 GMT

© BBC MMV

Following up to Miss L. Toe

"One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad," Mr Chirac went on,
according to the newspaper's report.

"What London has that other cities don't right now is high
quality food at all levels. In every category, from comfort food
to gastronomic experiments, we loved what we ate" John
Willoughby, executive editor, US magazine "Gourmet".

Chiracs problem is he doesn't like UK pointing out the French
steal most of the CAP funds that should go to the new countries
if anybody and it ought to stop, lets hope someone shoves a
Cornish pasty right up the rude arrogant frogs derriere. And any
other rude arrogant Frenchmen, the cost of the pasties can come
out of the French CAP share. I don't suppose they liked a British
restaurant getting voted best in world either. French food is of
course pretty good, trouble is its in France! :-)
I hope that wasn't too conciliatory?

"The Taste of Scotland is always to be enjoyed at the Gleneagles Hotel, from
morning kippers or a fresh egg from a nearby farmhouse; scones and cream or
Dundee cake for afternoon tea in The Bar to Angus beef, Scottish salmon,
venison or Highland grouse for dinner," the hotel's website says.

It adds that the hotel's kitchens "benefit from the finest, freshest produce
available from Scotland's larder, and from specialist suppliers around the
world".

Yep, Scottish produce is some of the best in the world.

--
Mike Reid
"http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/londonfood.htm"
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 15:45:00 +0100, The Reids
wrote:

Following up to Miss L. Toe

"One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad," Mr Chirac went on,
according to the newspaper's report.

"What London has that other cities don't right now is high
quality food at all levels. In every category, from comfort food
to gastronomic experiments, we loved what we ate" John
Willoughby, executive editor, US magazine "Gourmet".

Which 'other' cities?

(you knew I just had to respond to this one, Mike!)
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

Following up to DDT Filled Mormons

"What London has that other cities don't right now is high
quality food at all levels. In every category, from comfort food
to gastronomic experiments, we loved what we ate" John
Willoughby, executive editor, US magazine "Gourmet".

Which 'other' cities?

(you knew I just had to respond to this one, Mike!)

Of course, I don't have the magazine to hand but I'm sure he
wasn't talking about Birmingham and Liverpool! Actually I think
he was a little over the top to be honest, but that is the way
things are going. (At the bottom end, if you see what I mean, I
would rather eat in Spain or Italy than UK)
I hear Gordon Ramsay is just now boarding Eurostar (at *Waterloo*
station) to deliver the Cornish Pasty in his best expletives
deleted three Michelin star style, (sideways, garnished with
horseradish).
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

I presume he means all levels of cost. (Though I don't agree - low-end
food can still be pretty bad in London, while top-end is certainly
among the best the world has to offer and mid-market is much improved
over twenty years ago, although still variable in a range from
indifferent to excellent.)

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 16:32:35 +0100, The Reids wrote:

Following up to DDT Filled Mormons

"What London has that other cities don't right now is high
quality food at all levels. In every category, from comfort food
to gastronomic experiments, we loved what we ate" John
Willoughby, executive editor, US magazine "Gourmet".

Which 'other' cities?

(you knew I just had to respond to this one, Mike!)

Of course, I don't have the magazine to hand but I'm sure he
wasn't talking about Birmingham and Liverpool! Actually I think
he was a little over the top to be honest, but that is the way
things are going. (At the bottom end, if you see what I mean, I
would rather eat in Spain or Italy than UK)
I hear Gordon Ramsay is just now boarding Eurostar (at *Waterloo*
station) to deliver the Cornish Pasty in his best expletives
deleted three Michelin star style, (sideways, garnished with
horseradish).

The 'real' test is to come on Wednesday from Singapore.

Following up to

I presume he means all levels of cost. (Though I don't agree - low-end
food can still be pretty bad in London, while top-end is certainly
among the best the world has to offer and mid-market is much improved
over twenty years ago, although still variable in a range from
indifferent to excellent.)

I think, France bashing aside, that's pretty accurate.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Miss L. Toe wrote:
Chirac jokes about British food

My wife and I have been on five Trafalgar tours: France (twice),
Italy, Greece and England (mostly Devon and Cornwall). Much to our
surprise, the food in England was consistently the best.
Now I know tours of this sort are not gourmet outings, but the
improvement in English cuisine since our last visit many years ago was
dramatic, to say the least.
Strangely, we didn't see M. Chirac at any of our stopovers. Perhaps
he was eating somewhere else.

-- Ron

"Miss L. Toe" wrote:

Chirac jokes about British food
French President Jacques Chirac is reported to have cracked jokes about
British food at a meeting with the German and Russian leaders on Sunday.
French newspaper Liberation says Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin
laughed and joined in the banter.

"The only thing they (the English) have ever done for European agriculture
is mad cow disease," it quotes Mr Chirac as saying, within earshot of
reporters.

It's ironic that the French should have such a dim view of British food since
the French soldiers ate so much of it while they were hiding in England from
1940-44. War time food was pretty limited, but I it probably wasn't much better
back in France when the Germans were taking it all.

On 4/07/05 17:45, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

How can London have high quality at all levels? If it was true there
would only be one level.

Good, even great, French restaurants exist throughout the world. The
real question raised by the title of this posting series is about
"British food", i.e. British cuisine based on what is British food.

So what we are talking about are specific preparations which
are derived from a British approach to cooking which makes people
sit up and cheer, gastronomically.

I think French, Italian and certain oriental foods do this. But I don't
think anything in either British (or English) and American cusines falls
into that class. As an American I still like certain foods
(some of the American hams, especially hickory smoked from the Ozarks)
but I don't think there is anything which makes American cuisine world
class.

Earl