Chirac Barbs Fuel UK Food Feud

French President's Jokes On British Cuisine Reheat Longstanding Spat

(AP)  It's a rivalry for the ages — France vs. Britain, forever trading barbs over food, lifestyles and politics. Now, as Paris and London battle to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, the feud has heated up anew.

Britain's newspapers heaped scorn on French President Jacques Chirac, rebuking him Tuesday as "a man full of bile," after he reportedly trashed Britain's "bad food" and made a snide remark about mad cow disease.

"The Brits' odious `coup de bluff,"' the French daily France Soir countered over a cartoon accusing Britons of unwarranted grouchiness. The spat, it said, threatened to turn the Olympics decision into a "theater of arrogance."

On Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee announces the host city for the 2012 Games. Paris and London were both considered leading contenders Wednesday in a field that includes New York, Moscow and Madrid, Spain.

The two countries have developed close ties, with France a favorite vacation destination for Britons and many French finding Britain's business environment preferable to the one back home.

But the Olympics have awakened the fighting spirit in the historical rivals.

"This is a war between the English and the French, and I really want Paris to win," said Touhami Ben Younes, 54, a French delivery man.

The French newspaper Liberation reported Monday that Chirac made the remarks in Kaliningrad, Russia, during a conversation with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

"We can't trust people who have such bad food," Chirac was quoted as saying. He reportedly added that only Finland had worse food in Europe, and that mad cow disease was Britain's sole contribution to European agriculture.