U.S., France savor the taste of warmer ties

PARIS — The leader of the most powerful nation in the world can't wait to have a cookout in Maine, complete with hot dogs and blueberry pie, for the new president of France. "Freedom fries" have regained their rightful name. And American children have become familiar with the word "ratatouille" thanks to a film about a lovable French rat who can cook better than most humans.

Either food is the key factor in geopolitical relations, or Americans have changed their minds about France. Or both.

"After hatred, it's head-over-heels love -- especially for Sarko l'Americain," proclaimed Le Monde newspaper, using a frequent nickname for pro-American President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Although pro-American sentiment appears to be slowly surfacing on this side of the Atlantic as well, there is still ambivalence about getting too close to the United States. It's partly because of disagreements over the war in Iraq, but also because of fundamental questions the French are asking about their own future. The French are eager for change, but they also fear U.S.-style capitalism.

One expert calls the condition "French schizophrenia." America's image in France sometimes aggravates this syndrome, contributing to worries that cafes will succumb to Starbucks.

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'Freedom fries'

Just four years ago, differences over Iraq bruised a centuries-old friendship. The Bush administration felt betrayed when then-President Jacques Chirac refused to support the U.S.-led war. Americans dumped French wine into gutters and indignant congressmen renamed French fries "freedom fries."

In France, McDonald's restaurants were defaced and anti-American protests compared Bush to a Nazi.

Guillaume Ziccarelli remembers the tension. The 30-year-old Parisian, who worked at a French restaurant in Manhattan, describes incidents in which hecklers threw open the restaurant door, demanded a plate of "freedom fries," then turned around and walked out.

"It was such a joke," Ziccarelli said, "but also, kind of hard to take. You know, I was upset about the Twin Towers too. I went and lit candles. I was like an American."

But this month, White House spokesman Tony Snow made the rapprochement official, declaring, "It looks like we're on the verge of a new era of relations with the French."

Philippe Moreau Defarge, a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations here, said, "This is a moment of relief -- a time for reconciliation. Because the U.S. is now in a different situation. It is clear to the U.S. that they made a mistake going to Iraq."