SHARE
COPY LINK
COP21 PARIS

COP21

What 150 world leaders will eat for lunch in Paris

So what do you cook when you're feeding 150 presidents, prime ministers, and kings at an environmental conference? We take a look at the menu on the table for Monday afternoon at the COP21 climate summit.

What 150 world leaders will eat for lunch in Paris
Performers wearing effigies of world leaders (From L) German Chancellor Angela Merkel, China's President Xi Jinping, US President Barack Obama, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President
France will be seeking to titillate the tastebuds of its world leader guests on Monday with a 75-minute lunch it hopes will put them in the mood for making history.
   
The meal will break what is set to be 12 hours or more of back-to-back, three-minute speeches by heads of state and government tasked with injecting a sense of mission into the conference meant to stave off disastrous global warming.
   
The four-course menu will be prepared by five top-notch chefs, all volunteering their services to show off local, organic produce.
 
Some Reblochon, a semi-soft mountain cheese, will be on the table. Photo: AFP   
 
Accompanied, of course, by the finest French wines.
   
“A lunch reflecting France's environmental and gastronomic excellence… but without ostentation,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, the president of the conference, told reporters on Sunday.
   
Digging into the French offering will be the likes of Barack Obama, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi – even rivals Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been invited to break bread together, as have Israel's Benjamin Netanhayu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.
 

A picture of all the world leaders in Paris in Monday. Photo: AFP
   
The feasting will start with a “Modern Freneuse turnip soup with scallops cooked in floral steam”, followed by “Free-range poultry from Licques, stuffed celery preserve with truffles and parsleyed creamed spinach,” according to the menu.
   
The cheese course will be an organic Reblochon from France's Mont Blanc region, and for dessert, a traditional Paris Brest cake with stewed citrus fruit and a “light praline cream”.
   
The wine selection includes a white Meursault 1er Cru “Santenots” 2011, a red Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Chateau Beychevelle 2009, and the Champagne a Philipponnat Cuvee 1522 (all of which retails for between €50 and €60) – with a fruit juice option for those averse to alcohol.
 
As well as red and white wine, there will be Champagne a Philipponnat Cuvee 1522. Photo: WikiCommons   
 
The venue will be a hall at Le Bourget airport in Paris' northern outskirts, hosting the marathon conference.
   
The chefs are Yannick Alleno, Alexandre Gauthier, Nicolas Masse, Marc Veyrat and Christelle Brua (pictured below).
 
   
“There are no ostentatious or very expensive ingredients,” said Alleno.   
 
“We will aim to impress with our cooking instead… it is going to be a beautiful feast.”
   
The heads of state and government are in Paris only for the first day of the conference, which runs until December 11th.
   
Rank-and-file bureaucrats will take over from Tuesday with negotiations for the new pact to limit climate change by curbing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use.
 
Dessert – a Paris Brest cake. Photo: Stéphanie Kilgast/Flickr

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TRUMP

French president’s trolling of Donald Trump delights the French AND Americans

Of all the reactions from global leaders to Donald Trump's decision to abandon the Paris climate deal, there was only one they were talking about on Twitter and in the press on both sides of the Atlantic for that matter.

French president's trolling of Donald Trump delights the French AND Americans
Photo: Screengrab France24

Shortly after Donald Trump made a not-so-shock announcement to withdraw the US from the Paris climate deal, the reactions from disappointed world leaders began to roll in.

But the one that grabbed all the attention and the headlines was from the French President Emmanuel Macron, who once again showed he knows how to impress on the world stage.

For a start Macron was quick off the blocks, taking to French TV at midnight local time to make a speech to the nation.

But how he really impressed and surprised viewers was by making his speech both in French and English. See the video below.

For a start French presidents don't normally speak English at all, let alone have the nerve and language ability to deliver a statement on live TV in Shakespeare's tongue.

And it's fair to say it went down well both in France and over the pond in America where Macron seems to be developing a huge following due to his willingness to stand up to both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

AS usual Twitter was the first place to react.

Indeed many Americans were so impressed with Macron's English that it led them to mock the ability of their own president to speak his native language.

But the real crowd winner was Macron's trolling of Donald Trump when he ended his speech by twisting the US president's campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” to “”Make Our Planet Great Again.”

Macron even tweeted this image out and it soon went viral, getting 100,000 retweets.

That prompted the hashtag #makeourplanetgreatagain to top the Twitter trends in France.

But then Macron twisted the knife even further and told Americans disappointed with their new president to come to France to help battle climate change. And judging by many tweets, a lot of which were a little abusive to include here, many Americans (or at least those who don't like Trump) would be happy to take him up on the offer.

Macron's rebuke went down well on both sides of the Atlantic with the American press appreciating his “sermon” to Donald Trump and the French press acknowledging the ingenuity of his decision to give a speech in English. 

One article in Le Point magazine talked of how Macron had made the French feel proud of their president again who had in just three weeks become the “leader of the free world”.

While Macron may be under a little pressure at home, given the scandal that has surrounded one of his ministers, it's fair to say he has made an almighty impression in the international sphere in just under three weeks since he was inaugurated.

Although after his efforts last night he'd be forgiven for being a little hesitant next time he has to shake Donald Trump's hand.

READ ALSO: 'A moment of truth': Macron says he was ready for Trump handshake

 

 

SHOW COMMENTS