By Bardhyl Berberi
Memorie.al / Right near the center of the city of Pogradec, there is a simple but very popular restaurant, so much so that it is difficult to find an empty table and then enjoy the special and rare dishes by the great master of Albanian cuisine, the former chef of former Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu. Kopi Prifti served as a chef for over 20 years, from Enver Hoxha, Mehmet Shehu, Beqir Balluku, Adil Çarçani, Abdyl Këllez, to high government delegations such as Zhou Enlai and Nikita Khrushchev. Kopi Prifti agrees to exclusively share with us the preferences and whims of the ‘VIP’ individuals of that time, whom he served for over 20 years in the “Block” in Tirana and in the villas of Pogradec.
Mr. Prifti, what did the high communist leaders eat?
Enver Hoxha had a personal chef, Stafi Laçi (the nephew of “People’s Hero” Vasil Laçi), while I was the personal chef of Mehmet Shehu. However, in the “Block,” we cooked together with Stafi Laçi, especially when we came to Pogradec with the top leadership. As is known, Enver suffered from diabetes, and he would eat every morning two slices of melon and a piece of cheese with a little salt, grilled.
That was all for breakfast; afterward, he would drink Turkish coffee without sugar. For lunch, he preferred a soup, often with herbs, and fish fillets or beef cooked in the oven with white sauce. Afterward, he would have fruit without sugar, like sour apples or plums, while for dinner, he would only eat a grilled steak and yogurt. He almost never used bread, and if he did, it was only two thin slices weighing 20 grams.
Unlike the other leaders who communicated directly with us, only Enver communicated through Sulo Gradeci. I want to emphasize that Enver had an immense liking for sweets, but he could not eat them due to his diabetes. He liked the Gjirokastra sweets, thin dough filled with pastry cream and syrup.
How did you start as a chef for Mehmet Shehu?
As soon as I started as a chef for Mehmet Shehu in 1973, after the departure of Fatmir Gjeli, his doctors called me and said, “Kopi, you need to be very careful with the Prime Minister’s family, as comrades Mehmet and Fiqireti suffer from cholesterol, so be very careful with the fat.” However, on the very first day, Mehmet came to the kitchen and said to me:
“Listen, every morning, I want pancakes filled with ricotta and only the egg whites because the yolk has cholesterol.” (Pallaçinka was a very thin dough filled with ricotta). In the meantime, for lunch, Mehmet wanted a soup and a vegetable dish. For dinner, it was only yogurt, and he consumed a lot of fruit from those in his villa’s garden.
Mehmeti often went hunting and loved cooking game birds and wild animals like rabbits, wild boars, quails, or pheasants, for which I had special recipes…! Mehmet Shehu had a very strong presence but was very humane; if you got to know him up close, he was quite affectionate. When he had free time, he would come to the kitchen and say to me: “Come on, Kopi, let’s chat a bit about things from Pogradec.”
We would have various conversations and jokes. One night I was working in the kitchen when I heard him angrily call his companions: “What are you doing?!” – “We’re watching the Gjirokastra Festival,” they replied. – “And where is Kopi, call him here!” So, he took me to his villa’s sitting room, together with family members, and we watched the festival together.
Whenever Mehmet was upset, he would walk quickly down the villa’s corridor. There were times when he would step outside barefoot and walk along a small gravel path; this would happen when we were at the villa in Dajti. One night I finished dinner and was walking around the villa in the presence of the guards.
Suddenly, Mehmet passed by me wearing a tracksuit, but I noticed that he was barefoot and walking on a patch of gravel. – “Come here, Kopi,” he said, “take off your shoes and walk here on this gravel; it’s very good for you, it removes stress and sends very positive impulses to the brain.”
He then ordered the companions around the villa to do the same, and they took off their shoes and began to walk barefoot on the gravel behind the villa. Surprisingly, this iron-willed and meticulous Mehmet, whenever he heard the sound of an owl hooting around the villa, would order everyone to leave for the Durrës villa, even at midnight…! His companions were accustomed to this habit, and when they spotted an owl, they would silently shoot it with a sniper rifle.
And how do you remember former Defense Minister Beqir Balluku?
Former Minister of Defense Beqir Balluku was very fond of fish. Not only did he consume a lot of fish, but he also enjoyed catching it himself, spending hours with fishermen while hunting. One day, he caught a small fish with a net, known as “Pllasica,” about 10 cm long.
– “Come here, Kopi,” he said to me, “grill it for us, because even these small fish have their own taste.” We grilled it, and he ate the fish directly from the grill. One day, he managed to catch a large carp, about 10 kg, with the fishermen. I cooked it, and he ate a large amount of fish. He then opened a bottle of wine, but it turned out to be spoiled. Everyone got worried.
– “This happens sometimes,” Beqiri said while laughing. He was a very popular person, and when he came for vacation, he often focused on fishing. One time, Haki Toska, after finishing lunch, started having chest pains. His doctor came and told him: “You might have some poisoning from the fish you ate at lunch.” Haki got angry and said: “I have a problem with my heart, not my stomach.”
After every meal, we would leave a food sample for analysis to check what they had consumed during the day. When Zhou Enlai came, they urgently called for me. “Kopi, you will cook for Zhou Enlai.” One of his associates came to the kitchen and told me that he preferred chicken with pilaf and seafood, both cold and cooked. I prepared those meals during the days Zhou Enlai stayed at the “Palace of the Brigades.”
After taking a photo with all the participants and his companions, they called me into a waiting room, and he warmly shook my hand and gifted me a shirt, a tablecloth, and a fountain pen…! I also received gifts from Sianuku and Monika – beautiful medals, pendants, and some very nice silk pieces for my wife from Sianuku’s wife, Monika. Among the high leaders who came to Albania during my time in the “Block” kitchen, only Khrushchev did not eat with us.
He had brought his own chefs with him and even the foods they prepared. When they cooked for Khrushchev, we were kept out of the kitchen. They were very careful, and his companions would even observe Khrushchev’s plates when serving, in case there was any confusion at the table. This has stayed in my mind…!
Do you have any special memories from the former “Block”?
The milk we received for the “Block” was supplied daily from Korça, from a special cow. One day, the driver and an associate were five minutes late from when they were supposed to be at the “Block,” and they were fired. Abdyl Këllez’s wife was very particular about food. We, the cooks in the “Block,” used to say to each other: “Whoever satisfies her is the master of world cuisine.” We were not allowed to socialize with anyone after work hours.
We slept in some rooms at the Leadership Clinic. When we went out for a walk on our days off, security officers would follow us closely until we entered our rooms to sleep. Enver Hoxha’s cook, Stafi Laçi, experienced a tragedy when his son died, and he began to drink in some local spots out of despair.
This was contrary to the orders from the security officers, and he was let go as Enver’s cook. If you look at my album, I have photos with everyone; I just don’t have a photo with Enver Hoxha, not because I couldn’t, as when they were out in the areas of the “Block,” if you approached, he would call out, “Come take a picture with us.” However, my desire not to have a photo with Enver stemmed from a bitter experience of a friend of ours who worked in the “Block,” in Enver’s service villa.
One day, Enver was in a good mood and told that employee, “Come, let’s take a picture together.” After the photo was taken, out of joy at having gone out just with Enver, she multiplied the photo and distributed it to all her relatives in Devoll and Tirana. One morning, one of the heads of service called her and said: “Who do you think you are, distributing your face all over Albania? From this moment on, you’re fired.”
What was the food quota for the high leadership?
The food quota for all high officials was 360 lek per day, while a worker doing physical labor received 140 lek. Only Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu did not have a quota; they could consume as much as they wanted.
Enver Hoxha: My vacation in Pogradec
The unknown personal diary of the former communist leader!
Saturday, October 16, 1976
Today was my birthday. Every year it is “a mess,” as Aneja used to say, but I am well and will live longer than Aneja and uncle, to serve the Party and the people. The comrades from the Political Bureau, the Presidium, and the Government came, congratulated me. Valbona and Ermal came too, like two doves. Valbona held in both hands the first gift she made for her grandfather, a watch built by Sokoli, as well as a metro from her side.
Little Ermal, like a pioneer, came and gave me a letter and his gift, a small Japanese radio. I kissed them and we were pleased. They took photos and filmed in the living room. For lunch, we had Munimena, Haxhi with his daughters, and these with children, Dhuri and Zamira. From Sanoja, people also came to congratulate us.
Pogradec, Thursday, August 17, 1978
Our vacation in beautiful Pogradec is coming to an end. Tomorrow morning, on August 18, we have decided to go to Durrës. Almost 5 weeks have passed, if I am not mistaken, in the beautiful city of Pogradec. As every other year, we had a pleasant holiday here in every way. We were not bored for a single moment, because all the children, both the older ones and the younger ones, were with us.
The older ones came one after another, according to their vacation schedules. Nonetheless, we took the little ones with us, as they are our greatest joy: Valbona, Ermali, Dritani, while little “Shpati,” “the small one” or “the mouse,” as Sokoli calls him, arrived later, coming with Liljana and Sokoli. They were the last to arrive and also the last to leave…!
Pogradec, Saturday, July 14, 1979
It has been 8 days since I, along with Nexhmije, have been resting in the beautiful city of Pogradec, in this wonderful climatic place. The house where we stay is built in a chosen location, in the middle of a park filled with flowers, pines, and weeping willows, and in front of it lies the beautiful lake of this city.
Every day we take walks, especially in the morning before we eat bread, as well as before lunch and in the evening. The best walks are in the morning and in the evening when the wide road is lined with linden trees, perfuming the air with their flowers. In the opposite park, they have built a beautiful gathering place, with a fountain in the middle, constructed with hewn stones by the craftsmen from Korça.
Sometimes, in the afternoon, we stay there with Nexhmije and discuss various political issues and internal problems, which for us is a relaxation, despite the discussions being about important matters. We discuss with Nexhmije, especially regarding the book we are preparing on Eurocommunism, but also for the other volume of the book “Notes on China,” which needs to be prepared for publication.
Wednesday, October 15, 1980
Tomorrow is my birthday; I turn 72 years old. I remember with deep affection my father and mother, the beloved parents who gave birth to me, raised me, and educated me, who ensured that from my early childhood, I was honest and just like them, that I loved people as they did, and that I served the people and the homeland faithfully.
They taught me with their daily behavior to be simple, to never be arrogant, because “arrogance is a bad thing,” they used to say, “it doesn’t exist in our blood.” Uncle and my aunt weren’t highly cultured people, but both of them tried to ensure that I was educated. They were poor, but they would take food from their mouths to teach me.
Throughout my life, I have strived and fought to walk this path of honor, this path for the people and dedicated to the people, to whom I have devoted and will devote my entire life as long as I live. My gratitude and loyalty, as long as I live, will be dedicated to my beloved Party, the Great Mother, which educated me and continues to educate me, which clarified my mind and continues to clarify it, showing me every day the glorious path that we must all walk on; it taught me Marxism-Leninism and how to apply it correctly for the construction of socialism and the prosperity of our people.
Pogradec, Tuesday, July 7, 1981
Today I received a letter from comrade Ramiz. Everything is going well on the inside. Harvesting continues, and so does the work on the directives of the five-year plan. He also sent me an article from the Kosovo newspaper “Liria,” a letter from Bujar Hoxha, and an article about the economic relations between Serbia and the Soviet Union. I will study them and respond if I have any remarks. The weather is pleasant. There’s a slight breeze on the lake, but the “Skriveci” has rested. Memorie.al
