Michel Syrett, French on his mother's side, studied in Paris and visits France regularly as a business commentator, lecturer and journalist. He claims that his French is better than it might otherwise be because, in order to hold his own in French business circles, he has to eulogise about the perfect style with which the Nuits St. George cohabits seductively with the 'microbes' of the fromage while making a seriously intellectual evaluation of the patê de fois gras. This is a pleasure, naturally, since being French in his soul, he values food as a spiritual experience.