Presidential chefs swap recipes for world diplomacy
PARIS (Reuters) A handful of people in the world know that German Chancellor Angela Merkel loves popping over to Paris because of canada goose coats her penchant for French cuisine, Canada Goose sale while it best to avoid serving artichokes to French President Francois Hollande.
They are the top chefs from the kitchens of the world leaders, masters of the art of sweetening international relations with a sumptuous meal, who gather in Paris this week to swap recipes and tips on dinner party diplomacy.
If Winston Churchill was right when he said a century ago that stomach governs the canadian goose jacket world then this club of 27 culinary maestros have an unseen influence on leaders moods as they seal decisions on everything from the crisis in Syria to the euro zone debt woes.
come and go, but chefs stay, said Gilles Bragard, the French businessman who started the club of chefs to the world canada goose clearance sale presidents and monarchs in 1977.
often say that if politics divides, then the table brings people together, he told a news conference in Paris at their latest annual get together.
In a wink at the cooks importance, canada goose factory sale the club name Club des Chefs des Chefs plays canada goose uk outlet on the fact the French word for chef and leader is the same. It could translate as Club of Chefs of the canada goose coats on sale Chiefs or Club of Chiefs of the Chiefs
think what I cook can really make a difference to how discussions happen, Daryl Schembeck, head chef from the kitchens of the United Nations who recently cooked for a party of 200 world canada goose uk black friday leaders, told Reuters.
it easy to eat and people are enjoying it, it something they can talk about and that can start another conversation. I think I can impact that, he said.
Attending the gathering from the White House kitchen buy canada goose jacket is Cristeta Comerford, chef to Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Canada Goose online now Barack Obama. From Paris comes veteran Bernard Vaussion, chef to French leaders for nearly 40 years.
The chefs, from as far afield as China, Sri Lanka and Israel, met in Berlin last week as part of a week long annual get together. They arrived in Paris on Monday uk canada goose outlet for a three day tour of the French capital, Canada Goose Jackets to sample ingredients and share recipes.
FROM NAPOLEON TO THATCHER Chefs throughout history have played a vital, behind the scenes role in diplomacy, helping to ease fraught relations and smooth the way for talks.
France’s President Francois Hollande (L) shakes hands cheap canada goose uk with Canada Goose Parka Chinese chefs Hou Fang (2ndL) and Zhao Hoang Liang (3rd L) during a reception of the “Club des Chefs des Chefs” (Club of Leaders’ Chefs) at the Elysee Palace in Paris, July 24, 2012, following the International meeting in France. REUTERS/Jacques Demarthon/Pool
As Bragard recounts, the great French strategist Talleyrand, credited with the rise of the diplomatic banquet, once canada goose store told Napoleon Bonaparte: me a good chef and I shall give you good treaties.
Keen to smooth tensions over the euro zone crisis when Hollande and Merkel Canada Goose Outlet met this month to mark 50 years of Franco German reconciliation, French chefs chose to reproduce the famous meal of filet of beef and raspberry macarons prepared in 1962 for post war leaders Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer when they signed their friendship treaty.
On the day of Hollande inauguration in mid May, Merkel treated him to a feast of veal schnitzel and asparagus canada https://www.canadagoosejacket-outlet.ca goose in Berlin, washed down with a fine red French wine.
The chefs, some of the few people who have daily cheap Canada Goose access to the world uk canada goose power brokers, have the utmost trust of their employers.
Only the Kremlin still has an official taster on hand to sample the Russian president food and make sure it hasn Canada Goose sale been tampered canada goose uk shop with. Other world leaders put their stomachs entirely in the hands of Canada Goose Coats On Sale their cooks.
The chefs are firmly discreet regarding any secrets they pick up from the world of diplomacy though buy canada goose jacket cheap they spill the beans more freely on former leaders, relating anecdotes that can give insight into presidents and prime ministers characters.
London based Anton Mosimann, a visiting chef to 10 Downing Street who has cooked for a string of British prime ministers, recounts how Margaret Thatcher once asked for a lavish meal to entertain the then French President Francois Mitterrand.
He complied with a copious dish of veal steak with delicate morille mushrooms. During a conversation several years later, the famously frugal Thatcher congratulated him on the meal but added with a frown: was Canada Goose Online very expensive.
was Mrs. Thatcher, she never missed a thing, Mosimann said.
A current taboo at French diplomatic meals for American guests is foie gras, recently banned in California due to the force feeding of geese used to produce it, even if White House chef Comerford said she had no qualms about canada goose black friday sale serving up American canada goose clearance produced goose liver.