London:
Vladimir Putin, the security obsessed Russian President, fears being poisoned and gets every meal tested by professional tasters, his former chef has claimed.
The revelation about the 59-year-old former KGB agent was served up by Gilles Bragard, founder of an elite group of chefs who cook for the world's most powerful men and women.
"Tasters still exist but only in the Kremlin, where a doctor checks every dish with the chef," Mr Bragard was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
Speaking in Paris before a meeting of the "Club des Chefs des Chefs", Mr Bragard also revealed that American presidents often liked their food 'security cleared' before eating.
These included George Bush, who had two former FBI agents taste every one of his dishes during a trip to London. American leaders are particularly suspicious of non-US food. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is, for example, said to have "got rid of the French chef when she arrived at the White House because she found his cuisine too rich."
Other fascinating tidbits included a claim by London-based Anton Mosimann, who has cooked for numerous British Prime Ministers, that the Duchess of Cambridge had a heavy sauce 'modified' to make it lighter.
Baroness Thatcher was particularly concerned about cost, once questioning about the price of the veal steak and morille mushrooms offered to former French Socialist President Francois Mitterrand. Lady Thatcher congratulated Mosimann on the quality of the dish years later, but then said: "It was very expensive." Recalling Thatcher's frowning face, Mosimann said: "She never missed a thing".
Of the current crop of world leaders, US President Barack Obama hates beetroot, while his French counterpart Francois Hollande detests artichokes.
Mr Bragard said both Mr Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel 'adore cheese', while Mr Obama and his wife Michelle like most 'fruit and vegetables'.
The master chefs club will hold its annual meeting in Paris on Monday, and they will spend three days enjoying the restaurants of the French capital.