Unbeknownst to him, the US Treasury Secretary is tasting magic mushrooms in China

During a diplomatic visit to China in early July, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen unknowingly tasted a dish of hallucinogenic mushrooms. A popular local dish ever since.

In early July, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited China for four days with the aim of de-escalating tensions between the two world powers. During this diplomatic visit, shortly after that of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Janet Yalen had an atypical culinary experience.

accompanied by “a large group of people” Treasury Secretary tells CNN, sample a dish typical of the cuisine of Yunnan – a province in southwest China – based on mushrooms. A mushroom like no other… because it is hallucinogenic and its surface turns blue when pressed, especially during cutting. Hence the name of the dish: “jian shu qing”, or “blue hand vision”.

“There was a delicious mushroom dish there. I didn’t know these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I found out later,” she told CNN amused, while clarifying that she wasn’t the one who asked for it. And that none of them were affected by the mushroom magic.

“I read that if they were cooked well, as they were in this very good restaurant, they would have no effect. But we all enjoyed the mushrooms.” [et] restaurant, and none of us felt any ill effects after eating it.”

Out of stock dish

However, this tasting has not escaped the attention of netizens. A user of Weibo, a Chinese social network, launched a long hashtag “US Treasury Secretary Yellen’s first meal in Beijing is Yunnan” that went viral on the Internet. Some of those posts have been viewed more than six million times, CNN notes.

Meanwhile, taking the dish, which has become popular, has taken it by storm. The chain of restaurants that welcomed Janet Yellen, In and Out, indicated on Weibo that it had noticed, within a few hours, many of its branches running out of stock.

“At 2 p.m., Sanlitun was the first to sell out its inventory; starting at 8 p.m., stores in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xi’an, Xiamen, and Tianjin rushed until they were ‘sold out,'” Ot said on Weibo according to the American outlet.

A trip to China, which made it possible to “strengthen relations” between the two countries according to the Secretary of the Treasury, but also to make the local economy happy.