Chirac Barbs Fuel UK Food Feud

French President's Jokes On British Cuisine Reheat Longstanding Spat

(AP) 
The lastest contretemps amused many in France, where British gourmet Jamie Oliver of "The Naked Chef" television series enjoys immense popularity and appears regularly on Cuisine TV.

It came as both countries have been taking pains to improve sometimes testy relations — so much that Britain doctored its recent re-enactment of the historic Battle of Trafalgar to avoid the appearance of gloating over Napoleon Bonaparte's humiliating defeat.

The Sun warned that Chirac may have damaged his country's Olympic bid by criticizing food from Finland in the same conversation.

Although the British and French International Olympic Committee members are banned from voting, two Finnish IOC members will be voting, and the paper said their votes could be crucial.

Ingrid Newkirk, a leader of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wrote Chirac a letter Tuesday disparaging the French for their "reputation for making anything that moves, with the exception of the poodle, into a cassoulet."

Meanwhile, France Info radio reported that Chirac — on a swing through Singapore to support his country's bid — pointedly dodged a question from a British journalist about the food flap.

"We're in the world of the Olympics, where the best win. Naturally, I hope that Paris will be the best," Chirac said.