The Great British Sandwich in Paris? Article Published: 13:15 16/04/2006 Article Classification: Villa in Flayosc Provence
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Paris - As the wife of the British ambassador here, Lady Penny Holmes has hosted hundreds of glittering diplomatic lunches and receptions in the elegant surroundings of their 18th century Paris residence.
    And she sees it as something of a mission to defend British cuisine, serving up classical dishes with a contemporary twist, made with the best of British products for some 16,000 visitors a year.
    So it comes as perhaps something of a surprise that she has written a book in French on that most maligned of British culinary institutions, the sandwich.
    "A sandwich can be as elegant a meal as anything," she told AFP, displaying one of her creations in the residence's compact kitchens gleaming with rows of copper pots of every size, and hung with whisks and ladles.
    "People think down to sandwiches, but it can be a well-balanced healthy substitute for a working lunch."
    The book, co-authored with her friend Susan Mallet, contains 28 recipes for sandwiches using different breads and a range of fillings, as well as alternative spreads to butter.
    So alongside the inevitable cucumber sandwich -- a tradition of many English tea parties -- there are also more innovative ideas such as goats cheese and fig, houmous and red pepper wrapped in a flat Lebanese bread, or brie, apple and walnut in a French baguette.
    "Sandwichs" -- the French title -- was written specifically for the French market, though Holmes said an English translation might follow.
    Several of the creations have been served up in bite-sized versions at receptions at the embassy.
    And since the book was published in February Holmes has been inundated with requests to appear on the radio, open sandwich shows and give advice to budding entrepeneurs.
    "We wanted to give people a few more ideas, as there was still a bit of a lingering idea here that a sandwich was baguette with a bit of ham and cheese slapped inside," she said.
    It is her second collaboration with Mallet, after the two friends wrote the "Simply British" cook book also in French.
    Now into its third reprint, the book contains the secrets to such traditional British dishes as Yorkshire pudding, steak and kidney pie, fruit crumble and scones.
    It even contains a recipe for the perfect chicken tikka masala, the Indian curry which has became a favourite for Brits everywhere.
    The profits from both books are going towards research into breast cancer, after both women had friends who died from the disease around the same time, with "Simply British" having already raised some 3,500 euros.
    But Holmes also has a second mission -- to dispel some of the myths around British cooking.
    French President Jacques Chirac last year whipped up a storm when he reportedly said of Britain: "You can't trust people who have such lousy cooking."
    Au contraire, Holmes, who says she loves pottering around the kitchen, believes that British cuisine has come a long way in the past decades after sinking to a real low.