Sophisticated French Diplomacy
Gosh, I must admit, us cowboys do have a lot to learn about suave, sophisticated discourse from Messr Chirac:
(Jacques Chirac), chatting to the German and Russian leaders in a Russian cafe, said: “The only thing [the British] have ever given European farming is mad cow.” Then, like generations of French people before him, he also poked fun at British cuisine.
“You can’t trust people who cook as badly as that,” he said. “After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.”
See what happens when you let old Europe sit around a table and have a few glasses of wine?
Mr Putin and Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, laughed. Mr Chirac then recalled how George Robertson, the former Nato secretary general and a former defence secretary in Tony Blair’s Cabinet, had once made him try an “unappetising” Scottish dish, apparently meaning haggis.
“That’s where our problems with Nato come from,” he said.
Mr Schröder and Mr Putin laughed again.
Somehow I don’t see Blair or Bushy McChimphitler acting in the same fashion.
World Stuff | Mr. Bingley | 
July 5, 2005 8:11 am
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I’ve always wondered why the French laugh at other cuisines when they serve up snails with such delight. Although I must admit croissants were a pleasant addition to my regular (non-)diet.
That was insufferably, Gallicly wude. Putin’s a weasel and Schroeder a tub of lard.
However, in the interest of truth, justice and the American way…having spent two weeks and hard earned American dollars wandering the highlands by myself, sampling the local cuisine at every turn, I can only say:
“Go, Jacques!”
There’s a reason those dreary Isles are full of pasty faced buggers and it ain’t all solar deprivation.
I don’t think anyone is actually disputing the veracity of what he said 🙂
Oh, I spent a week in England myself, once, THS. I agree with you, with the sole exception of some English beers.
The Scottish hospitality and the quality of the family (MacEwan’s) quaffs saved me. You might spend the whole visit starving, but you’re entertained and might not remember you were hungry until morning anyway.
The U.K. is junk food heaven. Prawn crisps, canned pate sandwiches, chocolate-covered digestive biscuits, fish and chips–it’s far better (or worse, I suppose) than the U.S., although we’re the ones constantly associated with junk cuisine.
And lots of beer! Yum!