Merkel's Meals

Let's face it: Even before Nov. 22, 2005, Angela Merkel's life didn't exactly look like that of your average Gretel. As leader of Germany's main opposition party, she had tons of meetings with the more or less mighty. She just didn't have to pay quite as much attention to hairdos and make-up. She had to worry less about protocol while walking past soldiers on red carpets. And, yes, she didn't have to lead a country.

That's all changed a bit over the past 365 days. She's now constantly in the limelight. She's had her apartment in central Berlin retrofitted to comply with security standards worthy of a world leader. She has even less time for her husband, a chemistry professor named Joachim Sauer who has decided that he'd rather focus on his own work than accompany his wife at every occasion.

Sauer has also decided not to talk about his wife. The chancellor, on the other hand, apparently feels an obligation to share the odd private insight now and then. On Wednesday, the anniversary of her ascension to the chancellery, Merkel did decide to respond to reporters from Germany's Bild tabloid, who had asked whether her husband had noted any changes in her.

"Well, the breakfast that I'm preparing for us is still the same," Merkel said.

Munching on pretzels

The chancellor still has time to prepare breakfast. Surely there are millions of people with far less responsibility who barely manage to gulp down some coffee before they rush out the door.

How does she do it? Or, what's even more interesting: What does she serve? A traditional German breakfast with meats, cheese, jam and soft-boiled eggs? One can only hope that her table looks a little more cheerful than the Tupperware-laden arrangement that awaits a certain Elizabeth II in the morning.

There's quite a bit of information on Merkel's favorite dishes. Apparently she enjoys potato soup, roulades, stews and schnitzel, and she makes goose for Christmas. Merkel clearly wasn't willing to go into the details of her breakfast offerings though.

Maybe the subject's a little too touchy for her. After all, she did concede the conservative candidacy for chancellorship to Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber over breakfast (with pretzels) in 2002. A pretty smart move, one could say in hindsight, as Stoiber lost the election, making Merkel's bid for the chancellorship possible in the 2005 elections.

"I really like breakfast," she recently told a women's magazine.

No wonder.