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Anorak News | Hopping Frogs

Hopping Frogs

by | 26th, April 2004

‘JEAN Marie Le Pen, the leader of the French Far Right is, as the Home Secretary acknowledged, quite entitled to travel to Britain.

When in France…

Similarly, we in Britain are quite entitled to let him know exactly what we think of him, his odious policies and his equally odious friends.

And that was eloquently summed up yesterday by the bin bags thrown at his car and the chants of “Fascist scum” that greeted his arrival at a press conference with BNP leader Nick Griffin.

But perhaps M Le Pen would have been better off staying in France, where his help in repelling foreign invaders is more needed…and would be more welcome.

The Telegraph reports from Vittel in eastern France where for the past 32 years the Brotherhood of Frog Thigh Tasters has gathered to discuss – and, of course, eat – all things froggy.

And the disturbing news is that French frog-eating is in a parlous state, with what the paper calls “the dying croaks of a once great tradition” audible at the weekend.

It’s not for want of frog-eaters – the local rugby club, tennis club, choral society and Johnny Halliday Appreciation Society were apparently all packed for the occasion.

It’s for want of frogs or, more specifically, French frogs.

The terrible truth is – sacre bleu! – that none of the seven tons of cuisses de grenouille were French; they arrived vacuum-packed from Indonesia.

And – worse – the art of cooking the frogs’ legs appears to have died with the frogs, with many cooks preparing boil-in-the-bag cuisses and parsley sauce.

The inappropriately named Roland Boeuf, secretary of the Thigh Tasters, said a combination of agricultural chemicals and laws restricting the frog hunting season to just 15 days were responsible for this decline.

“The frog fair used to go on for four days with all sorts of competitions, like a hopping race,” M Boeuf explained.

“But now with the 35-hour week and tougher drink-driving laws, people cannot afford to come and they have to be much more careful going home.”

The festival, which now only lasts for two days, was the brainchild of Rene “The Frog” Clement, who moved to Vittel in 1952 and liked to say: “The frog is like a woman – only the thighs are good.”

He had clearly never seen pictures of Michelle McManus in her bathing costume.’



Posted: 26th, April 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink