Retro Garlic: The Vetting Paid Off

Every once in awhile, life imitates The Garlic.

While President Obama went off to the Middle East, for his Cairo Speech, than on to France, for D-Day events, it was on to Paris, for some playtime, and fine dining.

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room picked up on it, as did the AFP, however, we'll run with the ITN version;

President Barack Obama's food taster upsets chefs

Chefs at a top Paris restaurant were upset when US President Barack Obama sent his personal food taster into the kitchen to test his meal.

The incident occured at the chic La Fontaine de Mars restaurant when the President was dining with wife Michelle, President Nicolas Sarkozy and French First Lady Carla Bruni.

The Secret Service agent inspected a security-conscious Mr Obama's roast lamb and seasonal vegetables, a worker at the posh eatery revealed.

Waiter Gabriel de Carvalho, who said Mrs Obama and the Sarkozys all ate fillet of beef, added: "The President arrived with someone who tastes the dishes.

"The man, who appeared to be a Secret Service protection officer, waited in the kitchen while the chef prepared the meal for Mr Obama and his wife Michelle.

"Then he took a fork and tasted a tiny part of both meals before they were sent out to the President and his wife."

He added: "It wasn't very pleasant for the cooks at first, who are obviously very proud about their cooking.

"But they soon understood that it wasn't to test the quality of the dish, but only to ensure the food had not been poisoned in any way.

"The food tester was calm and relaxed and made light of it, so as to cause minimum offence.

"Clearly the food was fine and the president appeared to thoroughly enjoy his meal. All four of them said they had a wonderful meal and President Obama easily smoothed things over by personally thanking the chef afterwards."

Restaurant owner Jacques Boudon confirmed later: "We understand President Obama needs to have someone to test his food for security reasons. The chef understands and we are honoured at at our restaurant."

The Flying Monkeys started throwing feces on themselves over it, when, actually, it isn't uncommon, particularly when the POTUS is traveling in another country, for someone to check out the grub.

As for The Garlic, and The Retro Part, we had the jump on this, back in December;

Breaking ... Obama Team Vetting Food Tasters