Aleksander Kwa¶niewski: Setting the menu for the imperial couple was a real epic. Finally, my wife came up with an idea

– When preparing for such a visit to Poland by Elizabeth II or the Emperor of Japan, it is a lot of fun. There is a lot about Elizabeth in this book, but, for example, setting the menu for the Japanese imperial couple was a real epic. We were looking for different dishes, we found out what they eat, what they like. I think it was my wife’s idea that maybe because Japan is said to be the country of cherry blossoms, etc., we’ll prepare cherry soup, she recalls. [Wyszła- red] such a sweet and sour soup with a very interesting texture, a bit different from the Japanese flag – red circles on a white background – it was more pink and a white blob. And this soup was very tasty, only the empress was terribly surprised when we said that it was cherry soup. As it turns out, in Japan trees have beautiful flowers but no fruit, and you can’t make cherry soup there. This type of fun often accompanied, and more intellectually, these meetings always cause a bit of fear, whether it will all work out, but also joy – he adds. You can watch the entire conversation here:

Aleksander Kwasniewski: A president who suffers in his position, even if he suffers for millions, will not be a good president either

– If I had to say whether it is fun to be president, I answer “yes” and I will say more: someone who does not approach this duty with some joy and optimism, with conviction. that many great things can be done. but at the same time experience something fascinating, he should neither run for nor be involved in this – says Kwaśniewski and concludes:

A president who suffers in his position, even if he suffers for millions, as the poet wrote, will not be a good president either.

The president also mentions the visit of President Havel and his wife to Jurata, about which he also told Aleksander Kaczorowski in “President”, and also tells an anecdote about dogs related to hosting Lithuanian President Adamkus and his wife at the seaside presidential resort. In the conversation, which can also be heard as a Publio podcast “Read well, listen well”, Aleksander Kwaśniewski also talks about, among others, about where the blue shirts came from in the presidential campaign of 1995, about the constitution, Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, the moment when he had to find himself right after the end of his term of office and whether he had time to cook during his presidency and what the kitchen in the Presidential Palace looked like.