BB FANS

Wed Jul 6, 2005

HELSINKI (Reuters)

Finland, with its rye malt porridge and blood sausages, may be an easy target for leaders of Europe's gastronomic centres -- France and Italy.

But while French President Jacques Chirac and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stick in the knife with their culinary jibes, locals and visitors say fish and good, fresh food were typical of the Nordic country.

"We make ravioli ... but our Finnish meat and macaroni casserole is just as good as that Italian food," said Tuula Sundell, a restaurant owner in central Helsinki.

"And Berlusconi and Chirac are always welcome to taste our entrail dishes," she said of a meal considered a delicacy in both France and Italy.

Chirac was quoted telling German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday that "after Finland, (Britain) is the country with the worst food".

Many Finns found Berlusconi's comments offensive when he said last month: "I have been to Finland and I had to endure the Finnish diet."

Traditional food like kalakukko -- fish and bacon baked in a loaf for 20 hours -- is rarely found on menus where lightly salted salmon and fresh potatoes are more typical in summer.

"All the new vegetables, the new potatoes, are wonderful because we have so much sunlight in the summertime, and of course the fresh fish is excellent," said Jarmo Vaha-Savo, head chef at Helsinki gourmet restaurant GW Sundman.

LAST LAUGH

Two of Finlands' main daily papers devoted two pages to comments from chefs, diplomats and journalists outraged at the barbs from Europe's big fish.

"In all honesty, when a tourist comes to Finland and goes to an ordinary Finnish restaurant, it's a copy of a European menu, not as good as in France or in Italy," said Ari Vatanen, a Finnish-born French member of the European Parliament, also known for a successful rally driving career.

"We do have a very rich food culture but the ordinary tourists don't see that because they go to mid-class restaurants," he said.

Finland's produce won high marks from visitors.

"The fish is great here," said Derek Silva, a Canadian living in Finland. "When I bring friends or family here I have no problem taking them to a Finnish-style restaurant."

Chirac received a light-hearted invitation to dinner from another Finnish EU lawmaker, Alexander Stubb, who offered to serve up fish and chips Finnish-style -- roe of vendace with Lapland potato chips.

In the end, the northern Europeans may have the last laugh over the paunched burghers and portly matrons of the south.

Rates of obesity and heart disease have dropped in recent years in Finland partly due to public health campaigns encouraging lighter food, a spokesman for Finland's National Public Health Institute said.

6 Jul 2005 by Glory Sergei
Deadbrain

When Jacques Chirac claimed, not unreasonably, that perhaps Haggis is not the most wonderful foodstuff available to man, he made another crucial error.

The French president argued that Finland, land of the salted herring and Elk biltong, was the only country in Europe to have worse cuisine than the UK. This angered our Scandinavian friends.

A few facts to ponder:

Fact 1: Finland has two members on the IOC committee, which voted anonymously for the 2012 Olympic host city today.

Fact 2: London beat Paris by 54 votes to 50.

Fact 3: Assuming they voted for London, two Finnish votes for Paris would have led to a dead heat.

Fact 4: In the event of a dead heat, IOC president Jacques Rogge has the casting ballot.

Fact 5: Rogge had made it clear that he favoured the Paris bid.

As the Finns trip merrily back to the midnight sun, they can applaud themselves on an excellent and untraceable act of revenge.

Can't quite see how France can claim to be a leading gastronomic centre - a lot of their food is incredibly rich, stodgy and fattening (rather like M Chirac himself) and stuck in a timewarp. British food on the other hand, has overhauled itself over the last 2 decades, and it could be argued that British restaurant food is some of the best in Europe. After all, what do the French eat in their homes - probably the same sort of processed cr*p as most Europeans.