-Caveat Lector- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/25/1048354595451.html
The spies who came in from the kitchen March 26 2003 In an eccentric attempt to improve its public image, Germany's secret service has published a cookbook compiled by its spies working in 22 countries. The cuisines of Scotland, Iraq and the Philippines are among those covered in Top(f) Secret, (topf means "pot" in German), a recipe book in the form of a spiral-bound wall calendar that reached bookshops in Berlin last week. The cookbook, says the foreword, will help readers understand how "sumptuous meals, exotic food and lavish consumption of drinks" affect the success of intelligence work. Each of the 24 "delicious recipes of varying difficulty" is accompanied by an anecdote from a Federal German Intelligence Service (BND) agent, describing how he came across it. The agent in Scotland, for example, says that he got so drunk on whisky in a pub waiting for an informant that he ended up eating haggis. His recipe for a traditional haggis made from offal, oatmeal and seasonings stuffed into a sheep's stomach and boiled, contains the warning: "Attention: fill only two thirds of the stomach, since the oatmeal will expand. If the stomach is too full it can explode while cooking!" Another warning of the calendar-cookbook is of the perils of misunderstandings between nationalities in the field. A Chinese secret service agent in Africa, for example, thought that he and his German contact were heading into the jungle to report on guerilla activity. He was somewhat put out when he found himself spending the day watching gorillas. The cookbook charm offensive is a surprising departure for the hitherto shadowy service, which in recent years has had to live down a series of blunders. For decades, it locked itself away in concrete headquarters in Pullach, a suburb of Munich. It did not feature on street maps or in public telephone directories and its director's name was kept secret. In recent years, however, it has become renowned more for its blunders than its successes. The organisation had to live down rumours that it was behind an operation to smuggle plutonium from Moscow to Munich in 1994. More recently, a scandal erupted when suspected terrorists under the service's surveillance were sent telephone bills for the cost of the bugging operation. There is still no clear reason why the agency, in its attempt to improve its public image, has brought out a cookbook, of all things. The foreword, by Ruth Hanning, the wife of the head of the BND, August Hanning, offers few clues. "You may ask yourself why on earth the federal intelligence service is publishing such a book," she writes. Her explanation is suitably elliptical: "It's quite simple. Cooking is something, dear reader, that you would never have associated with federal intelligence." The service's publicity officer, Claudia Nitz, said: "The German taxpayer pays for the BND and we feel that it is our duty to give them some idea about what we are all about. We have had a thoroughly enthusiastic public response to the book so far." It's been so enthusiastic that the service will open a visitors centre in Berlin with a shop stocking 60 products with its logo. From next month it will sell Top(f) Secret aprons to accompany the book, as well as Y-fronts, mouse mats, tie pins and sewing kits. The Telegraph, London This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/25/1048354595451.html Forwarded for your information. 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