Beijing beer made with American hops, to highlight the commercial relationship between both countries. Tibetan food, to send a message of human rights. Mushrooms with possible hallucinogenic properties, simply because they taste good.
Where, what and how American dignitaries eat when they visit China is serious business. The choice of restaurants and dishes is rife with opportunities for geopolitical symbolism, as well as controversy and ridicule. Chopstick skill, or lack thereof, can be a sign of cultural competence or illiteracy.
An exorbitantly expensive meal can make an official look out of place. Too cheap or casual and you risk looking unworthy. Authenticity, history, cooking technique and flavor can affect the perception of a food choice.
As Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken began a trip to China on Wednesday, part of the Biden administration’s efforts to stabilize the relationship between the two countries, some on Chinese social media wondered whether he would have time during his visit to stop. and try some things. of the city’s famous xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).
A recommendation that he do so came with a political warning of sorts: “Eating xiaolongbao is like managing international relations,” one commenter wrote on Weibo. “If your attention wanders even a little, you will burn your mouth.”
In fact, Blinken visited a famous dumpling soup restaurant that night. It’s unclear how much he considered the symbolism of his dumplings, but when enjoying a traditional popular snack and attending a basketball game, the optics suggested there was a friendlier spirit than on the trip he took last year, shortly after that a Chinese spy balloon drifting around the United States had increased tensions.
But Blinken’s eating habits have attracted much less interest than those of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. During two trips, this month and last year, her meals in China attracted so much attention that the state-run Global Times deemed it a form of “food diplomacy.”
Last year, Yellen made headlines when, at a restaurant in Beijing serving cuisine from Yunnan province, she ate mushrooms that were revealed to be mildly toxic and could cause hallucinations if not cooked properly.
Ms. Yellen later said that she was not aware of the possible hallucinogenic properties of the mushrooms when she ate them and that she did not feel any abnormal effects. Still, the story sparked a brief mushroom craze in China.
This month, during a four-day trip to China, Yellen visited a famous Cantonese restaurant in Guangzhou and a Sichuan restaurant in Beijing. The dishes she ordered were quickly posted online, earning widespread approval from commenters for the variety and affordability of the dishes ordered, her skills with chopsticks, and the fact that she and her team were seated among other diners instead. in a private room.
The dishes Yellen and her team ordered were classic foods from their respective regions and were not modified for foreign tastes, according to Fuchsia Dunlop, a London-based cook and food writer who specializes in Chinese cuisine.
“They haven’t chosen really expensive, flashy dishes and ingredients,” Ms. Dunlop said, speaking of Sichuan food. “This is largely what ordinary people in Sichuan like to eat. “This menu was chosen for its flavor, not its prestige.”
According to a Treasury Department spokeswoman, the department typically solicits suggestions from local embassy staff for restaurant recommendations when Ms. Yellen travels. Yellen will then investigate the restaurants herself and make the final decision.
Sometimes, specific establishments will be chosen to convey a diplomatic message, the spokeswoman added. She cited Yellen’s visit this month to a brewery in Beijing that uses American hops, aimed at highlighting the importance of American agricultural exports to China.
Some restaurants Yellen has dined at have capitalized on her fame, like the Yunnan restaurant where she ate mushrooms, which launched a set menu based on what she ordered, called the “Money God” menu, a nod to her position. as Secretary of the Treasury.
Yellen is not the first American dignitary to turn Chinese restaurants into overnight sensations. In 2011, a visit by then-Vice President Joe Biden to a noodle restaurant in Beijing caused his business to skyrocket, according to Chinese state media, and led the restaurant to create a “Biden set” noodle menu.
In 2014, after Michelle Obama visited a hotpot restaurant in the city of Chengdu, the restaurant said it would create a set menu for the “American First Lady.” Articles in Chinese media noted approvingly that Mrs. Obama was able to stomach the spicy soup, which was not toned down for a foreign palate.
However, his visit to a Tibetan restaurant in the same city sparked controversy and its staff at the time readily recognized that the location had been deliberately chosen to show support for the religious rights and freedoms of Tibetans in China.
But for Mrs. Obama’s husband and other American presidents, Chinese cuisine served at official state banquets is often Americanized or adapted to better suit foreign palates.
In 2009, President Obama was served Chinese-style beef steak and baked fish, according to Chinese state media, and in 2017, President Trump ate dishes including kung pao chicken and boneless beef stewed in tomato sauce. . Both meals ended with fruit ice cream, something very atypical in traditional Chinese meals.
But even those meals may indicate an international trend, Dunlop said. Obama’s menu contained “very safe, conservative options that would be attractive to foreigners,” she said, while Trump’s menu was a little more contemporary and showcased more Chinese cooking techniques.
That change, Dunlop said, “may reflect China feeling a little more confident about Westerners’ familiarity with real Chinese food” in 2017 compared to 2009.