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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Hoax cooked up by French leaves Bush’s chef with egg on his face |
| 2003-08-29 |
| Credit where it’s due - this is pretty funny... President George W Bush’s personal chef has been humiliated by a team of French practical jokers who tempted him with a job offer to desert his employer and go to work for President Jacques Chirac. The stunt, which is threatening to spiral into a diplomatic incident, happened when Walter Scheib visited Paris in his capacity as president of the Chefs des Chefs d’Etat, a club for those who cook for the world’s heads of state. On Wednesday evening he was due to attend a party at the Elysee Palace given by the French leader’s wife, Bernadette. That afternoon a French television company dispatched a Mme Chirac look-alike to his hotel, the Plaza Athenee. The look-alike was accompanied by a producer, doubling as her secretary, and hidden cameras. When they arrived, the supposed secretary asked Mr Scheib to go to the hotel lobby as Mme Chirac needed to see him urgently about a very delicate matter. Mr Scheib arrived and greeted the look-alike warmly. M Chirac, she said, was sick of French food. He had once mentioned that he liked calves’ head and he had been eating snouts and lips at official dinners ever since. What he longed for was some good American cooking, hamburgers and barbecue. Would Mr Scheib agree to leave Mr Bush and come to work at the Elysee? The jokers had been sent by We’ve Tried Everything, a daily early evening programme, which mixes interviews with pranks. Frederic Siaud, the editor-in-chief of the show, said Mr Scheib seemed overwhelmed by the offer. "He fell completely into the trap. He said, ’I can’t leave George Bush just like that, I must think, this is a great honour for me’. But he did not refuse." The phoney Mme Chirac pressed him, saying her husband wanted a reply at the party in the evening, in three hours’ time. Mr Scheib said he needed half an hour to think, if she could wait. "After 20 minutes, we thought he had almost decided to come over and work for the Chiracs," said M Siaud, "but one of the hotel staff recognised the producer and the joke was over." Mr Scheib, he added, "took it very badly. He was extremely angry and told us this was going to create a diplomatic incident". Franco-American relations have plunged to their lowest point in decades over the war in Iraq but earlier in the week, Mr Scheib had been hailed for his tact by French gastronomes after he said he felt like a "young priest before the Pope" when he met the top French chefs. Half an hour after the prank was exposed, the Plaza Athenee told Mr Siaud that the chef had been on the telephone to the White House. In turn, Washington called the Elysee, which then asked France 2, the television station involved, not to broadcast the stunt. It has yet to make up its mind. The unfortunate Mr Scheib flew back to the United States yesterday. It would be a mistake to make a big issue of this - it’s happened, it’s over, everyone knows about it. Bush needs to laugh this one off. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #16 If you are ever in my neck of the woods,stop in at the Qail's Nest.Makes a Big Mac taste like cat food. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-8-30 8:00:20 AM |
| #15 Mcdonalds and White castle hamburgers aren't the good kind. The good kind are the think, juicy burgers. The ones people make AT HOME. Man, you guys are bunch of elitists. Le Big Mac used to be my favorite food until I discovered White Castle burgers by the dozen. (My roommate the elitist called them ratburgers). |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-8-29 10:25:49 PM |
| #14 Was this guy on the White House staff before W. moved in, did he work for W. while he was Gov, or was he hired off the street? I remember some talk about people being upset that W. wanted regular food, was that this same chef? Maybe Chirac will give him a job for embarassing W. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-8-29 8:52:18 PM |
| #13 Its a good scam. It reminds me of those Miami DJ's that keep making crank calls to Chavez and Castro. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-8-29 8:42:28 PM |
| #12 Maybe its me but I don't tend to order hamburgers in sit-down restaurants, at least not when steak or hotwings are available. I hardly think the President's chef is gonna make a burger worth his pay and I hardly think a kid fresh out of McDonalds' kitchen is gonna do much worse either when he's freed up from the specific McDonalds' cooking rules. PLus I'd love to hear what La Monde would say if Chirac hired a cook from McDonalds. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-8-29 6:57:04 PM |
| #11 "Yank" says: Fact is a McDonald's hamburger is not all that different from an In & Out hamburger... Uh, huh. Sit down, son. I have some news that will startle you. It is possible to go to restaurants where you don't shout your order into a clown's mouth and pick it up from another clown in a tiny window and eat it in your car. Yes! I know, I've done it. There are restaurants where you go in and sit down and someone comes to take your order and then you sit around bored until it comes. Sometimes those places have hamburgers, and they are generally very different from McDonald's hamburgers (which, by the way, are fine when you're pressed for time). Furthermore, it is possible to go to a supermarket and buy real chopped up dead cow and make your own hamburgers. With a little effort you can get them to taste different than McDonalds'. Otherwise, I would agree with Ptah if I could figure out what the hell he's talking about. Did anyone notice this, from the article: Frederic Siaud, the editor-in-chief of the show... Siaud, eh? Could that be an anagram for...Saudi??? |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2003-8-29 4:42:45 PM |
| #10 Mcdonalds and White castle hamburgers aren't the good kind. The good kind are the think, juicy burgers. The ones people make AT HOME. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-8-29 4:31:47 PM |
| #9 Angie Schultz, I don't know what they call a hamburger in Texas, what they call barbeque in Texas is nothing like the barbeque we have in California. Fact is a McDonald's hamburger is not all that different from an In & Out hamburger or a tiny White Castle burger for that matter. I draw the line at England's own Wimpy burgers though, it didn't taste right. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-8-29 3:31:22 PM |
| #8 Much ado about nothing... except maybe identity theft. At least Yank is now exposed. |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-8-29 3:27:09 PM |
| #7 I wonder if Bush is going to be eating really well over the next few weeks.....you know, "Sir, I have made the triple chocolate mousse you like so much....yes, the one that takes me three days to make....oh no, it was no trouble at all.....would you like chateaubriand or Peking duck tomorrow, sir?" I thought I read somewhere that Ol' Jock Itch worked at a HoJo's when he was studying here in the states and actually got to like burgers. Maybe Mr Schreib heard that too and believed the offer to be genuine because of that. Just make sure to get a copy for the annual staff Christmas party and let it go. You got to admit, it WAS a pretty good joke! |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-8-29 1:33:42 PM |
| #6 If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the Paris kitchen |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-29 12:30:30 PM |
| #5 I'm with bulldog: In a sense, this isn't an issue between Bush and Chirac, but between Mr. Scheib and these jokers, not to mention an issue between these jokers and Mme. Chirac, in whose name this "joke" was made. Both of the nations involved believe in personal liberty: it's Mr. Scheib's right to seriously consider what he was lead to believe was a tempting offer to cook for the Head of State of the acknowledged Gastronomical Nation of the World, in it's captial, where he could rub shoulders with those who considers his peers and improve his skills. I'm chief programmer in my department, but I'd become a grunt coder at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center in the drop of a hat if it was offered. There ARE job moves that represent a quantum leap in a person's level of professionalism and how he's regarded amongst his peers, and this is one of them. If anything, this shows the prevalent attitude toward the French that must be current in the White House: What kind of image of Chriac must be circulating there if this guy was seriously led to believe that Chriac secretly pined for the cuisine served at the Bush Ranch? There are hamburgers, and there are hamburgers, and Yank, of all people, should know that there is a difference. Even then, while Mr. Scheib's loyalty was severely tested, there is no evidence that would say that he would have positively accepted or refused. Any Secret Service agent or official who thinks this man's loyalty to the President is in question because of this needs to have his education extended beyond the fifth grade. I recall an episode in Andy Griffith's "Mayberry" show, where a russian diplomat secretly came for talks with the State Department and was hosted at Andy's House. Negotiations went nowhere until Aunt Bee caught the Ruskie raiding the fridge. She sat him down and started cooking up a storm, since the food was being brought in by the State Department. Negotiations were moved out of the Parlor and onto the kitchen table, and were successfully concluded. The moral was obvious: There are earthly things and products of home and hearth that transcend politics and superpower nattering, such as a slice of darn good apple pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Murat and Aris are neo-trolls, IMHO, but if I can't forget our differences for the time it takes to sit down with them at a bountiful table and enjoy the food, regardless of its national origin, then *I* have lost it and have taken things far too seriously. We may differ on tactics and strategy, but the whole point of the War on Terror boils down to allowing ALL of us these golden moments without having to worry that the festivities would be interrupted by a genocidal bomber. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-8-29 12:00:55 PM |
| #4 "Yank" says: Why would they need a special chef to cook burgers when they could go to the Paris McDonalds and hire one at minimum wage? Ahhh-HA! Got you, you imposter! If you were a real Yank, you'd know that McDonald's doesn't serve real hamburgers! You must be a dirty Froggie! J'accuse! |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2003-8-29 11:30:08 AM |
| #3 What a fool. He's impressed by top French chefs but is willing to work for Chirac cooking the exact same stuff he cooks for Bush (burgers and barbeque)? Why would they need a special chef to cook burgers when they could go to the Paris McDonalds and hire one at minimum wage? |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-8-29 11:15:42 AM |
| #2 I'm guessing Mr Schreib's going to be spending more time catering to the White House's four-legged occupants. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-8-29 10:08:22 AM |
| #1 But the Secret Service doesn't have the same kind of tolerance for humor that the rest of us have. It will be a serious matter of loyalty and trustworthiness that we don't need food tasters for the head of state. |
| Posted by: Don 2003-8-29 9:56:55 AM |