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From Our Own Correspondent: Amsterdam Mayors' Conference and France

Amsterdam Mayors' Conference and France

26/09/2014

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Amsterdam Mayors' Conference and France

Big city mayors join up to get things done and a top French chef takes meat off the menu

Misha Glenny in Amsterdam reports on efforts to set up a Global Parliament of Mayors, and John Laurenson finds that in carnivorous France, a top restaurant no longer offers meat.

Many big cities have budgets to rival those of small countries, and their mayors enjoy more respect, and often get more done, than their colleagues in national politics. Misha Glenny attends a conference in Amsterdam, where mayors from around the world are trying to bring about a Global Parliament of Mayors, to pool influence and share ideas. 

The French love their meat, and eat parts of animals that others may baulk at - pig tails, or frogs' legs, for example. Vegetarians have a hard time, as restaurants often put 'just a little bit' of meat in vegetarian dishes anyway. But now that may change. As John Laurenson reports, a top French chef, Alain Ducasse, has taken all meat off the menu at his prestigious Paris restaurant. Not yet fish, but meat. A meal there does not come cheap however, at 400 euros a head. Not including wine. 

Presenter: Owen Bennett Jones
Producer: Arlene Gregorius

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