Has Chirac lost it?

[English assassin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4651109.stm

Ahh, zeez Eeenglish, zer food is zo bad....

Don't you just love it when someone lives up to their national stereotype?

Alas the report does not relate:

(1) whether or not Putin and Schroder laughed nervously (lets face it Russia and Germany aren't exactly know for haute cusine) and

(2) what is so bad about Finnish food that makes it even worse than England.

Is Chirac popular in France, or do the French think he is a buffoon too?

[Spetulhu]

Is Chirac popular in France, or do the French think he is a buffoon too?

He's trying to be a bigger buffoon than Italy's Berlusconi, that's all. The Italian PM insulted Finnish food as part of his campaign for an EU department.

"Traditional" Finnish food is nothing special. Foodstuffs had to be prepared so you could store them over winter. Soured, salted etc. It's quite bland.

There's a wide range of different cuisine available these days.

[Samurai Waki]

Well you have to give credit where credit is due... I absolutely love Italian Food... never personally had Finnish Food, but in some book I read that during the middle Ages Finnish Peasants would use Moss and Bark from trees and mix it into their bread (the moss served as yeast). Man, Finns were tough.

[Ianofsmeg16]

Chirac's french, therefore we english should think he's a buffoon. I do, although, not all frenchmen are frog eating wierdo's some are quite nice

[Louis de la Ferte Ste Colombe]

Definitly a buffon. He lost it a loooong time ago.

His approval rating are in the low 20%. It's high time he retires. Too bad he fears judge too much to quit.

Louis,

[A.Saturnus]

I can`t say anything good of Chirac, but where he´s right he´s right.

[Redleg]

Definitly a buffon. He lost it a loooong time ago.

His approval rating are in the low 20%. It's high time he retires. Too bad he fears judge too much to quit.

Louis,

I would image there are a whole lot of people in his government that don't want him to retire for the same reason - they fear the same judge.

[KingOfTheIsles]

Did he ever have "it"?

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

I heard an extra part of the story.

Putin apparently suggested that the hamburger was the worst food ever.
Chirac, however, denied this.

Could Chirac's defence of the burger have something to do with Steak Haché being, basically, a hamburger?

Steak Hache:
"You need reasonably good beefsteak- it doesn't have to be rump steak but it should be a good cut of beef such as sirloin. Haché just means minced or chopped finely. If you have a mincer this will do the job, if not freezing the meat and then defrosting it a bit so that it is not quite rock hard will enable you to shave wafer thin slices off it with a knife- it's hard work but it works. Do not use 'mince' no matter what the butcher claims unless you have selected the right sort of meat yourself and seen it go into the mincer- ordinary butcher's mince beef is not nearly good enough for this.

You can just form the meat into 4 ounce patties. Adventurous souls will want to season them with salt & pepper and mix in a little very finely chopped onion and other flavourings of your own devising. The best way of cooking them is to grill them out of doors on a charcoal fire, but you can do pretty well if you sear them in a very hot cast iron frying pan for 5 minutes on each side. In either case, the idea is to brown them well on the outside but leave them rare inside. They are not meant to be well done all through. Serve in a bread roll, or as the French do with just chips."

[Don Corleone]

Nobody has mentioned how the conversation began. Chirac started the whole ball rolling with the comment "The only thing the English have ever given world cuisine is mad cow disease".

I don't think 'lost it' is an appropriate analysis. He's going for an 'us versus them' argument, and he's trying to align Schroeder & Putin on his side. Chirac told Blair there was going to be dire consequences for supporting the United States, regardless of whether the UK joined the EU or not. Slyly using schoolboy humor to relegate the UK beef industry to quarantine status would just be the first step.

Expect much more, not less.

[GonZ]

He's lost it... bigtime

"One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad." says Mr Chirac.

So he's not just insulting British food but the British people too...

Our cuisine is bad? Well I'd rather have fish and chips than dine on slimey garden
pests and pondlife...

Makes the blood boil...

[BDC]

Chirac is just acting like an idiot to try and draw attention away from the fact that a) France is one of the main reasons Africa is still a bit of mud with all of their farm subsidies, b) no one likes him or his German counterpart, including their own countries, and c) he has nothing useful to actually say.

[InsaneApache]

Well the gallic twerp has had his knickers in a twist ever since the French said 'non' ....and has been said, if he wasn't Mr. Prezz he'd prolly be in gaol ... so lets seee.....

'I ave eet...I weel zu Bliar...mon dieu...mes enfants oui? ...zen ze Frunch ell forgive an vote fur moi ...non?'

He's a pathetic disgrace...and may I add if I was a Frenchman I would be insulted at his blatant attempt to steer away from the referendum fiasco.

Vive la France

[Steppe Merc]

Hmm. Never eaten English food. However, I'm sure eating bugs somewhere would be worse. Besides, I like scones, so there.

[william the bastard]

Definitively, the worse buffoon we ever have. He's just good enough to let France in decay and wait next vote for the President.

I just want to tell him : Taste a roost lemp with mint sauce (not a joke taste and like), and stop drinking corona.

Anyway, I don't think is the right way to build a strong and modern Europa.
Just my penny

[Ronin]

when i went to england i was just there for a week but i´m sure i lost a bit of weight......

english food wasn´t really "bad", if i had to defined it i´d use the worlds "bland","tasteless" come to mind...


word to the british cooks....pick up a dictionary....look up the word "seasoning", and for the love of god starting using some.

[Radier]

Fish and chips is delicious!
Not good when he insults the english people. Imagine if he had done the same with for example turks or arabs. Then he would have been called [edited ] rascist...

Very bad Chirac...

[Ser Clegane]

b) no one likes him or his German counterpart, including their own countries

Actually you are quite wrong with this. The polls for Schröder are still quite good (certainly better than for his party). If we had a pure personality (like for the presidents in France or the US) election, he would still have a pretty good chance of winning.

[InsaneApache]

OI...Cleggy .....ffs .....

WARNING...profanity is progress

Just having a laff

[econ21]

I don't mind the reference to English food - who are we trying to fool? - but linking it to the idea of a "perfidious Albion" is barmy. Aside from any offence, the linkage seems inane. Are Indians supposed to be moral paragons because their cooking is exquisite? And the implication would seem to be that the poor Finns are the most untrustworthy characters in Europe[1].


[1]My limited knowledge of Finnish society is that it is rather admirable, with strong social bonds of trust and cooperation forged through the need to survive a harsh environment.

[Ser Clegane]

OI...Cleggy .....ffs .....

WARNING...profanity is progress

Just having a laff

Uhm ... is there anything you would like to tell us or do you disagree with what I posted?

[PanzerJaeger]

To be quite honest I dont see what the big deal is about French food. Way too much presentation, way too little food for my tastes... And all the pride over it is a little stupid. If thats one of the major sources of pride in your nation - there might be a problem.

Never had Finnish food but I would definately put dishes traditionally considered Italian, German, and a whole host of asian and spanish/latino dishes above those of the French.

Im not really sure of too many English dishes really, besides some fish dishes. When I was there the food seemed to be much like American, and it was just fine.

[InsaneApache]

Then he would have been called [...] rascist...

Here m8....

[Ser Clegane]

hehe - thanks

I guess I'm getting a bit sloppy here...

Well, off I go to spread some joy

[Templar Knight]

when i went to england i was just there for a week but i´m sure i lost a bit of weight......

english food wasn´t really "bad", if i had to defined it i´d use the worlds "bland","tasteless" come to mind...


word to the british cooks....pick up a dictionary....look up the word "seasoning", and for the love of god starting using some.

Haggis isn't bland - nice and spicy, from around here anyway

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

I wouldn't call haggis English food...

[Templar Knight]

I know, im just saying

[King of Atlantis]

Chirac never really had it, to be honest. Whats wrong with some ice fish and chips?

[Efrem]

Chinese food is best.

[cegorach]

Ohh Jacques Chirac - my 'favourite' French politician.

He is still remembered in Poland for his arrogant remarks before the war in Iraq that we should 'shut up and listen', which in such a proud country like Poland made him 'very popular' indeed.

The man is largely responsible for the fact that Poland ceased to be French friend after more than 300 years.

Now it is different which is more and more obvious when you see how different is Polish and French attitude towards Russia and other cases.

I hope he will not rule for long, because I became slightly anti-French mainly thanks to this arrogant guy.