France election 2012: Nicolas Sarkozy bans cheese from Elysée Palace

The health-conscious leader opts instead for “light, balanced meals and
poultry to red meat”, his chef said, in a clear break with his
predecessors who were not afraid of heartier fare, even at lunchtime.

The French had already found it hard to swallow the fact that their leader
drinks no wine, a source of great national pride. The latest revelation
risks striking another symbolic blow to the leader’s credentials as a
flag-bearer of French gastronomy.

On the advice of his former supermodel wife, Carla, 13 years his junior, the
one-time chocoholic president has been on a draconian fitness and nutrition
programme for most of his presidency, served a frugal diet of fish,
vegetables, salads and sorbets. Cottage cheese, it is believed, still makes
the grade.

Some blamed the low-calorie diet on Mr Sarkozy collapsing in 2009 during one
of his gruelling daily jogs

However, with presidential elections just three weeks away, Mr Sarkozy has
chosen to throw his normal dietary rules out of the window if it can help
him win an uphill battle to secure a second five-year term.

In a sign he is prepared to go the extra political mile, he kicked off his
re-election campaign with a visit to a cheese-making factory in the Alpine
city of Annecy, also stoically accepting chocolate, crepes and sausages from
shopkeepers.

“I’ll put on three kilos and it’s only the first day,” he joked
before going on to enjoy a fondue lunch with a group of supporters.

He then spent four hours at Paris’s annual agricultural fair accepting
offerings of langoustine, chocolate and Reblochon cheese in a bid to stave
off the National Front, whose leader Marine Le Pen claimed to be the “champion”
of rural France.

If, as the polls predict, the Socialist François Hollande wins power next
month, the Elysée chef may be asked to bring back the gooey stuff.

However, Mr Hollande has also been on a strict diet in a bid to shed his
unfortunate nickname of Flanby – a wobbly caramel custard dessert.

“There is always uncertainty. We will see, it will be up to him to decide,”
said Mr Vaussion wistfully.

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