Trump Dinner in China

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Trump Dinner in China
KFC. I hear they love it over there.

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Great. No board is safe from TH03 bullshite.

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Can China’s chefs charm Donald Trump like they did with Henry Kissinger in 1971? The US president will be served the finest foods China has to offer on Thursday evening, but will any of it have the ‘Peking duck effect’

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It is unlikely that Donald Trump was aware of the diplomatic row his dinner in Seoul on Tuesday evening caused between Japan and South Korea, but Chinese officials, and chefs, are not expected to take any chances when the US president sits down for a banquet in Beijing on Thursday.

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The problem in Seoul was down to the fact that the prawns served to Trump and his wife Melania as part of a four-course dinner at the presidential Blue House had been caught near a disputed island claimed both by South Korea and Japan. The Seoul-controlled island – called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan – is at the heart of a decades-long territorial dispute and diplomatic row between the two countries.

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According to popular accounts, on July 10, 1971, after a morning of deadlocked talks between Zhou Enlai and visiting US secretary of state Henry Kissinger in Beijing, China’s then premier arranged for his guest to be served Peking duck for lunch.

The popular delicacy of roasted duck served in a pancake with spring onions, cucumber and hoisin sauce did the trick.

In the afternoon, the atmosphere was noticeably more relaxed and the two men agreed on the details for the planned visit of Richard Nixon, who months later in 1972 became the first US president to visit the People’s Republic of China since its founding in 1949.

“After a dinner of Peking duck, I’ll agree to anything,” Kissinger was quoted as saying in a report published years after his trip.

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State dinners are big productions in China, usually involving more than 160 chefs, according to a report published by People’s Daily in 2015.

When designing a menu, as well taking into consideration seasonal factors and nutritional values, the chefs “try to understand the guest’s tastes, age and state of health”, the report said.

A Chinese diplomatic source told the South China Morning Post that the preparation of a state banquet must “reflect the significance of the guest … and not make it seem that the guest is unimportant”.

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In Tokyo, probably much to his delight, Trump was served a hamburger made from US beef. China was unlikely to be quite so informal as it would want to showcase the best of its cuisine, the source said.

“It’s a tradition that Beijing serves Chinese traditional food to foreign leaders. Exotic flavours might be included, but they won’t be the main course,” he said.

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Corn porridge served with fresh herbs and vegetable side dishes

Grilled sole from the South Korean island of Geoje with a Donggukjang, i.e. brown bean sauce, consomme

Pine mushroom rice in a stone pot accompanied by grilled Hanwoo (Korean beef) rib seasoned with a special sauce made with a 360-year-old soy sauce

Triple chocolate cake with raspberry vanilla sauce and Sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch) granita with dried persimmons

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In Tokyo, probably much to his delight, Trump was served a hamburger made from US beef.

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