Duncan Gillies: Troubled times leave bad taste for many French

It's a time of turmoil in France. In recent weeks millions have taken to the streets in protest over plans to raise the retirement age to 62, while France has become the target of new al Qaeda terror threats.

On top of that, the Government is facing heavy criticism for its treatment of Roma gypsies.

Against this backdrop of fear, anger and civil unrest, a group of experts in London will this month tackle one of the big issues France has been trying to avoid but is being forced to face up to ... is French food a spent force?

The last thing the Government of Nicolas Sarkozy needs at a time when workers are threatening more strikes and human rights activists are expressing outrage at the expulsion of Roma is some bunch of British foodies calling into question the quality of the country's cooking.

Because the French take their food seriously. They take pride in pointing out there are more cheeses in France than stars in our galaxy, and that scientists continue to discover new ones on an almost weekly basis, and that while wines produced outside of France will sometimes be good, they will always lack a certain "je ne sais quoi".

I used to think most French meals probably started out as the acts of some demented child on animals before he grew up to become an adult serial killer.

Why else would somebody force-feed geese, cut the legs off frogs and keep the brains of calves and lambs to serve up with a cheeky little sauce?

Then I married a Frenchwoman and realised I was wrong (and would continue to be for years to come).

As my wife is French, she can burn toast and call it haute cuisine. You have to love that about the French. At least I have to as she got it written into our pre-nuptial agreement.

And it's not an easy thing getting to marry a French woman. I had to first pass a series of tests that took the form of a 36-course meal that was filled with more drama and suspense than a whole series of New Zealand's Top Model.

"Duncan, you started so well with the hors d'oeuvres and showed such confidence and grace as you moved on to the salad. But what were you thinking, asking if there was any tomato sauce to go with the coq-au-vin?"

There were tears and tantrums but it all worked out in the end.

I have to wonder, though, if it will be so successful for the panel at the Big Debate during the London Restaurant Festival on October 12.

They will be arguing over such important issues as the growing presence of fast food chains, the impact of shorter lunch breaks and asking whether anyone without a French accent can really cook.

What a night that will be.

Many French, meanwhile, must be asking whether the country has become a spent force when it comes to civil rights and human dignity.

Workers and unions have been a united force against the Government plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 for people who have paid social security contributions for 40 and a half years. The Government also wants to raise the age at which someone can receive a full pension from 65 to 67.

The Government claims the pension system cannot survive without reform. No doubt Sarkozy's Government will struggle to survive with it.

There has been nowhere near as much of a fuss over the treatment of Roma gypsies, perhaps surprisingly as France has been seen in the past as a model nation of diversity.

The main criticism has come from European Union leaders who have questioned the legality of a programme where the Government pays Roma €300 ($553) and puts them on a plane back to Romania or Bulgaria.

Now the Government is to fingerprint anybody it kicks out of the country after it was claimed some were returning under new identities. It's not known if the Government will also be trying to claim back the air points of any Roma gypsies who were quick to see the hidden benefits of such an outrageous scheme.

No doubt the panel in London won't be concerning themselves with such trivial matters when they square off next week.

But I know my wife has felt a little less proud to be French with every development of this unsavoury affair.