When Gerhard Schröder received Jacques Chirac privately in Hanover in 2000, the French President could hardly contain his enthusiasm. The pork knuckle that was served to him was the best "I've ever eaten," enthused Chirac. And he liked to eat pork knuckle.

Eight years later, Nicolas Sarkozy invited Angela Merkel to a private lunch at his wife Carla Bruni's apartment in Paris. Madame cooked herself, the President served: fried duck liver. Merkel liked it, and Sarkozy was enthusiastic about himself, as always: He chose the menu because he knew that the chancellor would like it.

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