Different strokes for different world leaders
While Trump likes his steak well done, Kim Jong-un has a preference for bloodier rare meat.
HANOI:
Sanctions and nuclear plants are not the only bones of contention between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un: while the US president likes his steaks well done, the North Korean leader has rarer tastes.
Paul Smart, the executive chef at the Metropole hotel in Hanoi, worked closely with two of the North Korean leader’s personal chefs on the meals prepared during the two-day summit.
An intimate dinner on the first day featured marinated tender sirloin served with kimchi-stuffed pear, but the principals missed out on a foie gras and snow fish lunch as negotiations over the North’s weapons programmes and international sanctions ground to a halt.
The team had strict instructions on how to prepare the meat, Smart said. “Kim had medium-rare to rare, very rare,” he said. “And Trump had well done.”
The US president is known for his simple culinary tastes, but Kim’s preference for bloodier meat showed an appreciation for quality, Smart said.
“He really likes to dine and experience cuisine for what it is.”
According to his chefs – both of them called Kim – the North Korean leader has expensive tastes, Smart added.
“He likes caviar, lobster, really luxurious product. Foie gras, he really likes to indulge in cuisine.”
Trump previously stayed at the Metropole during a state visit in 2017 when Smart stocked the freezer in his room with six tubs of vanilla ice cream to ensure his sweet tooth could be satisfied.
On Wednesday, Trump ate every last morsel of his chocolate lava cake dessert, while the main course was almost certainly the first time the US president has consumed North Korean beef.
For an ordinary American citizen eating a steak provided by the North Korean leader could potentially violate the sanctions Washington has imposed on Pyongyang over its weapons programmes.
But as US president on official business, the rule does not apply to Trump himself: another clause says that transactions “for the conduct of the official business of the Federal Government” are not prohibited.
Sniffer dogs were brought in to sweep the kitchen ahead of the summit, and food samplers from both sides tasted each dish before it went out to the Metropole tables.
“Everything was individually wrapped, it was very hygienically packed and everything,” Smart said of the North Korean supplies.
The two chefs were talented and “very nice”, the Australian added, and “very intrigued by the way that we’re doing things and the style that we’re cooking”.
They had one culinary blind spot: they had never before seen a shrimp cocktail, the 1980s American classic which Trump requested for the opening dinner.
“They were really intrigued by the taste” of thousand island dressing, Smart said. “So I gave them the recipe and they took it home with them.”
In return, they explained how to make kimchi, the fermented cabbage side dish that is a mainstay of Korean cuisine. — AFP