IRELAND/EU:The Government has chosen a porter cake and an orange cake as Ireland's official birthday cakes to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the EU this month, writes Jamie Smyth, European Correspondent.
The cakes are based on recipes by TV cook and food writer Darina Allen and will be among 54 national cake specialities on offer at an EU leaders meeting in Berlin on March 25th.
But as politicians prepare to use the event to boost the EU's flagging popularity, Ireland's top celebrity chef yesterday launched a blistering attack on the union.
"I am deeply honoured that my recipes were chosen," said Ms Allen, who had no idea that her porter cake and her Auntie Florence's orange cake had got the nod. "But EU regulations are strangling the Irish food and hospitality industry," she added.
Ms Allen, who runs cookery courses at Ballymaloe House in Co Cork, said unnecessary EU regulations governing everything from fire risks to hygiene were causing people to close firms or not get involved in the food business at all.
"Now the EU is 50 we need to re-evaluate things and develop a culture that facilitates business. It costs people a fortune to get started nowadays . . . There is a level of regulation that curtails every aspect of our lives at the moment. The regulations are out of proportion to the risks involved," said Ms Allen, who has built one of Ireland's most successful cookery and publishing businesses.
Ms Allen, who has just returned from a business trip to India, said Europe needed to take note of how things were developing in India and China. "They are going into orbit because they are unfettered by unnecessary regulations," she said.
Irish porter cake is similar to barmbrack but the cherries and sultanas are steeped in porter, which is typically Guinness, Beamish or Murphys. The orange cake is a recipe Ms Allen inherited from her Auntie Florence. It is a type of sponge cake made with an orange filling and orange glace icing sugar with little diamonds of candied orange peel.
Irish officials said the choice of cakes was not in any way an attempt at political correctness regarding the two religious traditions in Ireland but was based purely on the recommendation of Bord Bia, the Irish food board.
There was no official comment in response to Ms Allen's views on the European project.
The Irish cakes will be joined by a select group of other traditional European cakes eaten in Berlin to celebrate the EU's 50th birthday.
The British have chosen the hot cross bun to mark the celebration, the French a cake with rum, while the Germans have chosen a layered sponge covered in crushed nuts.