Culinary diplomacy: The internet is obsessed with what Janet Yellen eats in China

BEIJING (AP) — Ever since she ate mushrooms that can have psychedelic effects in Beijing last July, Janet Yellen has united Americans and Chinese in wanting to know what she will eat next.

And now that the U.S. Treasury secretary is back in China this week, having stopped in Guangzhou and Beijing, many people are less interested in her travels to rebuild relations between the world’s two biggest economies, and more fascinated with what she’ll eat next and where.

From her forays into Sichuan dumplings to Peking duck, mouth watering chicken or twice cooked pork — even Chinese politicians at the highest ranks of the party are taking notice of her popularity on the culinary arts scene.

Ahead of a highly anticipated bilateral meeting Sunday between Yellen and Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of People, he noted in his opening remarks that Yellen’s visit has “indeed drawn a lot of attention in society” with media covering her trip. She prefers to dine among other patrons and doesn’t like partitions keeping her from other diners — making her silver hair highly recognizable when she’s out and about.

The use of her chopsticks at a restaurant in Guangzhou has also been a particular observation.

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