Revenge is a dish best served jellied and potted

Jacques Chirac may have brought things to boiling point in 2005 when he joked to Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder about the untrustworthiness of the British and their food, but now the British are serving up a masterful second course.

At the global summit meeting in Russia, the French president noriously declared that the only thing the British have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease, and he reportedly added “You can’t trust people who cook as badly as that. After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.”

Now any visiting diplomats to the British Embassy in Paris will find it is fully armed with a copy of The Taste of Britain, a celebration of regional British produce such as red grouse, gulls’ eggs, and native oysters.

John Holmes, the British Ambassador, commented today to our Publishing Director, Arabella Pike, “I applaud your initiative, and my wife will be particularly interested, having published two books in France recently on British cuisine and the art of a good sandwich”.

Chirac said at the time “I don’t know English – or Scottish – cuisine well enough that I could really talk as an expert.” We’d say now’s his chance to find out more.