Upset by Jacques Chirac's reported comments disparaging their national cuisines, a Finnish member of the European Parliament and his British wife have dared the French president to sample turnip rye pie, brambleberry wine and other Nordic delights. Legislator Alexander Stubb wrote to Chirac Tuesday inviting him to dinner at their home south of Brussels.

A menu proposed by top Finnish chef Jyrki Sukula starts with a Finnish take on Britain's classic fish and chips. That would be followed by a broth of cepe mushrooms with turnip rye pie, then rack of baby lamb from Finland's Aland islands served with nettle mash.

For dessert, there's berries marinated in Arctic brambleberry wine and a pudding made from beestings - milk taken from cows immediately after they give birth - a popular Finnish specialty.

The French newspaper Liberation on Tuesday quoted Chirac telling German Chancellor <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post>    </FORM>Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post>    </FORM>Vladimir Putin that only Finland had worse food than Britain.

"We can't trust people who have such bad food," Chirac was quoted as saying of the British. He reportedly added that mad cow disease was Britain's sole contribution to European agriculture.

The comments provoked outrage in the British press. "Don't talk crepe, Jacques!" scorned The Sun.

Finns were already smarting from criticism of their cooking by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who once claimed, "the Finns don't even know what prosciutto is," in a successful bid to ensure the EU's food safety agency was located in Parma instead of Helsinki.

In his letter of invitation, Stubb did acknowledge one area of French gastronomic superiority. "We hope that, as president of an esteemed wine-producing country, you could provide the wines," he wrote.