BEIJING — Since eating mushrooms that can have psychedelic effects in Beijing last July, Janet Yellen has united Americans and Chinese in asking what she will eat next.
And with the US Treasury Secretary back in China this week, after stops in Guangzhou and Beijing, many people are less interested in her trips to rebuild relations between the world’s two largest economies and more fascinated by what she will eat afterwards and where.
From her forays into Sichuan dumplings to Peking duck, delectable chicken or twice-cooked pork, even Chinese politicians in the highest ranks of the party are noticing her popularity in the culinary arts world.
Ahead of a much-anticipated bilateral meeting Sunday between Yellen and Prime Minister Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People, he noted in his opening remarks that Yellen’s visit “has indeed attracted a lot of attention in society,” with the media reporting on her trip. dines among other customers and does not like partitions that keep her from other guests – making her silver hair very recognizable when she is on the road.
Using her chopsticks in a restaurant in Guangzhou has also been a special observation.
A Chinese state media social media account posted a compelling video of Yellen on her first evening in China, eating with the US ambassador and other officials at Tao Tao Ju, a Guangzhou restaurant that dates back to 1880.
The post, one of the most viewed on the Weibo microblogging app the next morning, praised Yellen for holding the chopsticks well, but added: “As a US official, Yellen needs to know more about China than just food. Only by knowing more about China can we correct America’s view of the world, of China, of China-US relations.”
And during a Sunday meeting with Huang Yiping, dean of Beijing University, he joked that China watched the news of her arrival as well as her dinner, to which Yellen interjected: “My chopstick skills!”
In the U.S., Yellen also often stops for fast food and at local eateries during domestic trips ahead of events to promote the Biden administration’s policies, such as the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act and the infrastructure bill, and becomes headline news.
A stop last November at the In-N-Out burger in San Francisco before heading to the airport to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting also became a viral moment.
In China, her very first viral moment occurred when she unknowingly ate mushrooms that can become psychedelic if cooked incorrectly at a Yunnan restaurant called Yi Zuo Yi Wang during her first trip as finance minister last July. Mushroom-gate went viral across the internet and the restaurant has since dedicated a section of the menu to Yellen’s visit, where guests can order what she ate.
She told CNN at the time: “There was a delicious mushroom dish. I didn’t know these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I learned that later.”
Yellen hopes to make progress in China for a second time this week on what she calls China’s overproduction of solar products, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries, which she warns will threaten global economic stability if left unchecked.
And this time in Beijing, Yellen ate at Lao Chuan Ban, a popular restaurant in Sichuan. She also had lunch with Beijing Mayor Yin Yong at the Beijing International Hotel.
On Monday evening, her last evening in China, Yellen visited Jing-A Brewing Co. in Beijing – co-founded by an American – where she ordered a Flying Fist IPA, a beer made with American hops.
She took a sip and called it “excellent.”
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Associated Press researcher Wanqing Chen contributed to this report.