Meet the little bird who ate too much

In the RTE television series Charlie, the former Taoiseach is seen at dinner with his friend, French president Francois Mitterand. They are tucking into a dish of ortolan buntings.

Monsieur le President had a penchant for eating these little birds. He even ordered them for his last meal, a few days before he died in 1996. His chef revealed that Mitterand ate two birds and “died a happy man”. If the European Commission has its way, however, future presidents won’t be able to enjoy this particular privilege.

Ortolans are caught in nets and cage traps as they migrate southwards towards Africa in the autumn. The ancient Romans stabbed out the little birds’ eyes; unable to see, buntings will gorge themselves on grain or millet seeds. They are not blinded nowadays but kept in closed boxes or blacked-out cages. Fattened to almost twice their normal weight, they are drowned and marinated in Armagnac.