Summit that's hard to swallow - world leaders enjoy 18-course banquet as they discuss how to solve global food crisis

 

By James Chapman

Last updated at 12:27 AM on 08th July 2008

 

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Just two days ago, Gordon Brown was urging us all to stop wasting food and combat rising prices and a global shortage of provisions.

But yesterday the Prime Minister and other world leaders sat down to an 18-course gastronomic extravaganza at a G8 summit in Japan, which is focusing on the food crisis.

The dinner, and a six-course lunch, at the summit of leading industrialised nations on the island of Hokkaido, included delicacies such as caviar, milkfed lamb, sea urchin and tuna, with champagne and wines flown in from Europe and the U.S.

 

 

Enlarge G8 leaders discussing the world food crisis in Japan raise their glasses ahead of an 18-course dinner

But the extravagance of the menus drew disapproval from critics who thought it hypocritical to produce such a lavish meal when world food supplies are under threat.

On Sunday, Mr Brown called for prudence and thrift in our kitchens, after a Government report concluded that 4.1million tonnes of food was being wasted by householders.

He suggested we could save up to £8 a week by making our shopping go further. It was vital to reduce 'unnecessary demand' for food, he said.

Last night's dinner menu was created by Katsuhiro Nakamura, the first Japanese chef to win a Michelin star. It was themed: Hokkaido, blessings of the earth and the sea.

 

 

Enlarge

 

 

But Dominic Nutt, of the charity Save the Children, did not approve.

'It is deeply hypocritical that they should be lavishing course after course on world leaders when there is a food crisis and millions cannot afford a decent meal,' he said.

'If the G8 wants to betray the hopes of a generation of children, it is going the right way about it. The food crisis is an emergency and the G8 must treat it as that.'

In 2005, at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, world leaders promised to increase global aid by £25billion a year by 2010 and raise aid to Africa, the world's poorest continent, by £12.5billion. But the bloc of rich nations is only 14 per cent of the way towards hitting its target.

 

 

First wives club: The wives of the G8 leaders get stuck into the feast

 

 

The G8 Summit is addressing world food shortages

 

Britain is meeting its commitments in full, but other countries are understood to be dragging their feet - and there are fears the figures on global aid could be watered down.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, who face pressure to cut spending at home, are understood to be leading the charge to weaken the Gleneagles proposal.

Tory international development spokesman Andrew Mitchell said: 'The G8 have made a bad start to their summit, with excessive cost and lavish consumption.

'Surely it is not unreasonable for each leader to give a guarantee that they will stand by their solemn pledges of three years ago at Gleneagles to help the world's poor.

'All of us are watching, waiting and listening.'

A World Bank study released last week estimated that up to 105million more people, including 30million in Africa, could drop below the poverty line because of rising food prices.

Yesterday the European Union agreed to channel £800million in unused European farm subsidies to African farmers, as part of its response to the global food crisis.

'The EU really can give a boost to agriculture in developing countries,' Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, told the meeting.

The money will be used to buy seed and fertiliser and fund agriculture projects in Africa.

The meal was served at the Windsor Hotel, on the shores of Lake Toya, where the presidential suite costs £7,000 a night.

Japan has spent a record sum of money and deployed about 20,000 police to seal off the remote lakeside town of Toyako for the three-day talks.

 

 

Slim pickings from the Russian leader

 

Britain's relations with Russia remained chilly last night as Mr Brown held the first talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.

He is understood to have pressed for the extradition of former KGB officer Andrei Lugovoy, wanted for the London poisoning of dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

But Mr Medvedev refused to budge on that issue - or on the closure of British Council offices in Russia and arrest of its employees.

A Kremlin official said the talks had 'not avoided any sharp corners'. Mr Medvedev had concentrated on 'the prospects of restoring relations to the level they were on several years ago', he said.

Mr Brown 'brought up the issues that particularly concerned the British side, such as the British Council and activities of certain major oil companies and a number of certain-well-known cases', he added. 'Dmitry Medvedev gave necessary explanations and pointed to the importance of a long-term approach in UK-Russian co-operation.'

There were signs Russia may support tougher action against Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. It has been reluctant to support sanctions, but British sources at the G8 summit said opposition was easing.

The G8 is expected to support a proposal of a UN envoy to broker an exit for Mugabe

just plain wrong:disappointed:

 

 

shame on these people, its almost as if they were trying to rub it in:\

just plain wrong:disappointed:

 

 

shame on these people, its almost as if they were trying to rub it in:\

 

Trying to stuff it all in, more like!!:rolleyes:

Im not sure what makes me more sick, those people or your puns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

its the puns:sick:

Im not sure what makes me more sick, those people or your puns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

its the puns:sick:

 

You really shouldn't let things eat you up like that.......................... :rolleyes:

:ears:

 

 

 

Gizmo wants you to whip him

 

 

 

 

hard

 

 

:ears::whip:

Anybody see if Mr Brown's plate was licked clean?

^I think you've been spending way too much time in the Perv thread.:dozey:

^HI!

Anybody see if Mr Brown's plate was licked clean?

 

Well rumour has it he asked for a "doggy bag".:rolleyes:

Another one of modern world's contradictions. :rolleyes: Where's common sense nowadays?

 

 

... We hope to see your countries' emissions regulated soon... :dozey:

Isn't it tradition in China NOT to finish what's on your plate? Anyone have any stats as to how much food gets wasted as a result of that...

Another instance of sensationalist journalism that kicks up a fuss over nothing. Ever heard of hospitality? Imagine the Japanese offering the world leaders plain rice rolls and miso soup... oh please. This was a lose-lose situation because a humble meal would have been reported as an empty gesture (which funnily enough, the summit was).

Another instance of sensationalist journalism that kicks up a fuss over nothing. Ever heard of hospitality? Imagine the Japanese offering the world leaders plain rice rolls and miso soup... oh please. This was a lose-lose situation because a humble meal would have been reported as an empty gesture (which funnily enough, the summit was).

 

Maybe - but 18 courses was extremely excessive even so. That's taking the p*ss.

Couldn't they have made do with three, like "normal" people??

It's a disgraceful message to send out if you ask me.;)

 

 

... We hope to see your countries' emissions regulated soon... :dozey:

 

Are they all digging their own graves??:rolleyes:

Another one of modern world's contradictions. :rolleyes: Where's common sense nowadays?

 

It was replaced by nonsense several years ago!!:rolleyes:

Maybe - but 18 courses was extremely excessive even so. That's taking the p*ss.

Couldn't they have made do with three, like "normal" people??

 

This is Japanese cuisine... where one course is roughly the equivalent of three slices of fish with a sculptured radish...

 

The whole article is extraneous as far as I am concerned.

This is Japanese cuisine... where one course is roughly the equivalent of three slices of fish with a sculptured radish...

 

The whole article is extraneous as far as I am concerned.

 

Well the majority of those world "leaders" are superfluousand disingenuous as far as I'm concerned.:rolleyes:

Well the majority of those world "leaders" are superfluous as far as I'm concerned.:rolleyes:

 

Irrelevant normative populist tangential digression. :P

Irrelevant normative populist tangential digression. :P

 

Are you Alastair Campbell in disguise??:rolleyes:

Are you Alastair Campbell in disguise??:rolleyes:

 

Yes. Yes I am.

Yes. Yes I am.

 

Thought so. It was the pompous rhetoric that gave you away instantly!!:P

So are you still working for Tony??:rolleyes:

We play tiddlywinks occasionally.

 

I disagreed with the common viewpoint and justified it objectively. What did I do to deserve such condescending sarcasm?

 

Pompous? Pot calling kettle etc.

We play tiddlywinks occasionally.

 

I disagreed with the common viewpoint and justified it objectively. What did I do to deserve such condescending sarcasm?

 

Pompous? Pot calling kettle etc.

 

Now I'm certain you're Mr. Spin!!:P