London mayor takes aim at French with cake jibe

The mayor says Britain would always beat France in attracting big business as their people have an instinctive flare for innovation.

Davos – London mayor Boris Johnson took a gastronomic pot shot at the French on Thursday over attracting big business, saying Britain would always beat France -- using cakes as ammunition.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the eccentric former journalist teased President Nicolas Sarkozy for "seeking to have designs on London's pre-eminence in financial services".

The French leader gave the keynote opening address at the Davos conference on Wednesday, pledging to re-design the global economic architecture when his country takes over the Group of 20 (G20) presidency next year.

"Well I say to him that he should look to the safety of his cake industry," he said, citing the case of a London cake and pudding maker, Gue, which he said sold five million pounds' worth of its products to France every year.

The "genius" of the British company was to give itself a foreign-sounding name, fooling the French -- who are notoriously proud of their gastronomic tradition, he said.

"The French consommateur would not readily be persuaded to buy 'Waltham Forest cake,' and so what did they call it? 'Gue' -- thus bamboozling the poor people of France into thinking that it was Austrian cake.

"That instinctive flare for innovation, for value-added, that means in my view London will always be the place for cutting-edge service industries," in particular for the finance sector, he added.

He concluded: "To the French I say: Let them eat cake" -- the English version of "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche," a reported put-down by 18th century French Queen Marie Antoinette when told that the peasants had no bread to eat.

Johnson was speaking at one of the numerous corporate-sponsored events held on the sidelines of the annual WEF meeting, which brings together some 30 national leaders with 2,500 business and cultural chiefs.

AFP / Expatica

　法新社瑞士達佛斯28日電：倫敦市長強生（Boris Johnson）今天就吸引龐大商機對美食王國法國發表一番評論，表示英國總是會擊敗法國─蛋糕就是砲彈。

　法國總統沙柯吉（Nicolas Sarkozy）在瑞士達佛斯（Davos）世界經濟論壇（World Economic Forum）發表開幕致詞，矢言明年由法國接任20國集團（G20）主席國時，將重新設計全球經濟框架。

　前職是記者的強生揶揄沙柯吉，他說：「嗯，依我看，他應該注意其蛋糕業的安全。」強生意指倫敦蛋糕和布丁製造商Gue每年在法國創造500萬英鎊（逾800萬美元）商機。

　強生表示，這家英國公司的「天才」之處就在於取了個外國名字，愚弄以美食傳統自豪的法國人。

　他說：「法國顧客才不會欣然去購買店名叫做 Waltham Forest的蛋糕，所以他們怎麼取名呢？Gue─迷惑可憐的法國人，讓他們以為買的是奧地利蛋糕。」

　強生說：「這是創新、附加價值的能力，我覺得倫敦將永遠站在服務業的尖端。」他補充說，尤其是在金融業方面。

　最後強生以18世紀法國皇后瑪莉安東尼（Marie Antoinette）聽到農民沒有麵包可吃時據稱曾說過的話作結語，他說道：「法國人，讓他們吃蛋糕吧！」