Four French chefs are requesting a waiver to serve a long-banned delicacy - a small songbird called the Ortolan that fans including late President Francois Mitterrand used to devour, bones and all, while wearing a napkin over their heads.

The request for the once-a-year waiver is being lodged among others by Alain Ducasse, the internationally acclaimed chef with a top 3-star rating from the Michelin gourmet dining guide, Le Parisien newspaper reported.

The Ortolan, a seed-eating songbird that is little bigger than a child's hand, has been banned from restaurant menus in much of Europe since 1999.

The scene of the violent attack against a Cabs team in FranceThe scene of the violent attack against a Cabs team in France

Said to have been part of Mitterrand's last meal before he died in 1996, one customary French way of preparing Ortolan consists of force-feeding it until fat and dousing it in Armagnac alcohol before roasting it whole in the oven.

Fans often wear a large, usually white, napkin over their head while eating. Some say the napkin serves to conceal them spitting out bones, others that it helps to seal in aromas and still others that it serves to fend off the shame of being seen by God eating a song-bird.

The request for the right to serve up Ortolan one day or one weekend a year would be lodged in coming days with the French authorities, Le Parisien newspaper cited one of Ducasse's fellow backers, 3-star chef Michel Guerard, as saying. 

'GANGSTER-STYLE' ATTACK ON CABS TEAM

Meanwhile, Cabs, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter reported that French bird trappers earlier this month savagely attacked one of its teams with tear gas and nearly killed a German birdwatcher with a tractor.

The incident which took place near the town of Tartas in the Southwest of France in the latest of a series of acts of violence against conservationists who work against the illegal trapping of the Ortolan, which is protected throughout the European Union.

Cabs said that the attack happened in plain view of two police officers who were deployed by the authorities to ensure the safety of the birdwatchers.

“When the poacher realised that his trapping site had been detected, he informed his friend who tried to surround and beat up two members of our team who escaped by the skin of their teeth and managed to hide in a corn field”, Cabs president Heinz Schwarze said.

When a third Cabs member – together with the two police officers – arrived to pick up his colleagues with a car one of the attackers blocked the vehicle's way and sprayed a full load of tear gas into his face.

While the victim was on the ground fighting for air and temporary blinded, another man tried to run over him with a large tractor. In the last nick of time a police officer managed to pull away the victim and called for reinforcements. Thanks to a force of more than 20 heavily armed police officers the situation was finally brought under control. The trapper was arrested.

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