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LONDON -- French President Jacques Chirac, already in a pot of British hot water, was accused yesterday of "a tasteless blunder" by opening a "cheap and thoroughly schoolboyish attack" on British food, calling it the second-worst in the world, behind only Finland's. He even took a shot at haggis, the most famous Scottish dish, on the eve of the Group of Eight summit at Gleneagles, the Scottish resort. As Mr. Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin traded belly laughs at a cafe in the Russian city of Kaliningrad -- where they met to mark the city's...

BERLIN - A food fight between world leaders is underway as they prepare to travel to Scotland for the latest meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations. While the British have been forced to try to digest some rather critical remarks about their cooking style attributed to French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Schroeder's remarks about salmon might not win him any friends among the Scottish hosts of this week's G8 meeting. Despite the Scots being proud of their vast streams of salmon, Schroeder told a news conference in Berlin Tuesday that he was not a great fan...

Tony Blair and President Jacques Chirac of France were heading for a clash on free trade and global warming at the G8 summit tonight after flying half-way across the world in their bitter contest to host the 2012 Olympics.The Queen will hold a welcoming dinner at Gleneagles, in Perthshire, for leaders of the world's most industrialised countries. But the mood could be soured by the International Olympic Committee's choice of city to hold the Games in seven years' time: London, Paris, New York, Moscow or Madrid. Yesterday the Prime Minister flew from Singapore, where the committee was meeting, to prepare...

As if rival Olympic bids and EU rebates had not done enough damage, relations between France and Britain have soured over the quality of their food. French President Jacques Chirac has opened up a can of worms with reported comments about British cookery being among the worst in Europe. Tony Blair declined to comment. So, the BBC Wales news website asked the owners of a French restaurant in Wales and a British cookery school in France what they thought. IS FRENCH FOOD BETTER? Elen Dupuy, who owns the Le Gallois restaurant in Cardiff with her husband Francis, said the French...

Chirac Opens His Big Mouth Again

LONDON (AFP) - British newspapers have condemned French President Jacques Chirac as a "nasty, petty racist creep" and someone who "has lost his marbles" amid reports he scoffed at British food. Chirac reportedly said British cuisine was the worst in the world after Finland's and joked "the only thing they have done for European agriculture is 'mad cow'" at a French-German-Russian summit Sunday in Russia. The Daily Telegraph ran an editorial Tuesday under the headline: "Tut, tut, Mr Chirac. "Jacques Chirac, the embattled president of France, seems to have gone a little off his rocker," it said. Chirac's reported comments,...

Anglo-French tensions heightened last night after Jacques Chirac delivered a series of insults to Britain as London and Paris fought to secure the 2012 Olympic Games and faced fresh disagreement at the G8 summit.The president, 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. Gerhard Schroeder, Jacques Chirac and Vladimir Putin Jacques Chirac [2nd from left] entertains Gerhard Schröder and Vladimir Putin at a Russian cafe "You can't trust...

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. French newspaper Liberation says Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin laughed and joined in the banter. "One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad," it quotes Mr Chirac as saying, within earshot of reporters. A French government spokesman declined to comment on the report, which comes days before the G8 summit in Scotland. The only thing they (the English) have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease Jacques Chirac The three...

French President Jacques Chirac is reported to have cracked jokes about British food at a meeting with the German and Russian leaders. French newspaper Liberation says Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin laughed and joined in the banter. "One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad," it quotes Mr Chirac as saying, within earshot of reporters. A French government spokesman declined to comment on the report, which comes days before the G8 summit in Scotland. The only thing they (the English) have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease Jacques Chirac The three men met on Sunday for...

Like 'Pushy' mother, like daughter By REBECCA ENGLISH, Daily Mail 08:30am 20th August 2004 Tall, Blonde and statuesque, Lady Gabriella Windsor has clearly inherited her mother's looks. In addition, Princess Michael of Kent appears to have passed on her tendency to rub the Americans up the wrong way. Months after graduating from university and starting work as a writer, 23-year-old Gabriella has already run into a spot of bother. In an article on food for the Spectator magazine, she describes British fare as 'bland' and consisting of 'warm beer, grey curries and unidentifiable soup'. Her real venom, however, is saved...