Diplomacy ... well done?
State dinners for Trump put protocol, and a little ketchup, on the menu
As President Trump made his way from Riyadh to Jerusalem, from Rome to Brussels, he was feted with dinners befitting the head of one of the most powerful nations on Earth. Saudi Arabia threw him a banquet featuring succulent lamb, heaps of fragrant rice dishes — and steak with a side of ketchup. In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, hosted the Trumps for an intimate dinner centered around miniature hamburgers and steak with barbecue sauce.
The world, it seems, is showing the president their respect through food.
The world also can’t help but scrutinize the new president’s diet. When the pope asked Melania Trump, “What do you feed him? Potica?” at the Vatican on Wednesday, the first lady appeared to agree. Within hours, dozens of stories appeared speculating whether she had misheard “pizza” instead of “potica” (pronounced paw-TEE-tzah), a rich Slovenian pastry — or was sharing a joke with the head of the Catholic Church about her husband gaining weight.
Woe betide the party planner charged with welcoming a visiting president whose love for well-done steaks with ketchup has become a symbol of either his populism or his small-mindedness, depending on which American you ask.
The art of the state dinner is a delicate one, said Pamela Eyring, founder of the Washington School of Protocol, which has sites in both Washington, D.C., and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It’s a chance for those in attendance to relax — at least in comparison to their conversations around trade deals or military positions — and encounter each other as humans.
Planning a dinner with a visiting head of state can involve hundreds of people. Members of each delegation may consult with one another to figure out dietary restrictions and preferences. “Every little detail matters,” Eyring said.
Many countries think of state dinners as a way to show off their own cuisine while making it approachable for visitors who aren’t familiar with it.
For example, Trump made news in April by feeding Chinese President Xi Jinping Caesar salad (with focaccia croutons), sauteed sole (with Champagne sauce) and New York strip steak at his resort in Florida.
Other times, a menu for a visiting dignitary displays cross-cultural respect, even collaboration. At the Obamas’ last state dinner in 2016, which welcomed the visiting president of Italy, New York celebrity chef Mario Batali created Italian-inspired dishes such as agnolotti pasta stuffed with sweet potato and beef braciole with horseradish gremolata and broccoli rabe.
Just as often, perhaps, the menu strives for gastronomically neutral ground. In January 2015, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman hosted a state dinner for President Obama in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As described by the Los Angeles Times, the food was what most hotel chains would consider international gourmet: lobster soup, grilled lamb and French pastries. The menu was more notable for its inclusion of lobster, which many interpretations of Islamic dietary laws forbid, than its consideration for the American palate.
The Saudi government’s May 19 gala honoring Trump was preceded by a saber dance. The photos of the bobbing president went viral, distracting the public away from demanding to know whether he ate food served from communal dishes, given his much-reported germophobia, or whether Saudi cooks charred the steak to his liking.
From Riyadh, the president and the first lady flew to Israel, where the couple dined on May 21 with the Netanyahus in their home. Allison Kaplan Sommer, a correspondent for English-language newspaper Haaretz, chronicled the meal, which was prepared and publicized by an Israeli celebrity chef named Segev Moshe.
“I could surmise that the leadership of the country, and the whole country, was so into wanting to please him and give him what he wants that Segev Moshe would make him feel at home and comfortable,” Sommer said on the phone.
Yet her article noted the curiosity of the menu. Moshe’s food seemed to dance back and forth across the line between deference and mockery. Was the appetizer called “A Taste of America” — sliders with beet ketchup — an homage to the president’s home country, or did it troll his campaign-trail promise to one day serve President Xi a state dinner of hamburgers?
An American food journalist might raise his eyebrows at Moshe’s beef fillet, which was accompanied by both barbecue sauce and curried foie gras. The Haaretz correspondent pointed out that Moshe’s molten chocolate cake dusted with gold simultaneously referenced the president’s favorite decor scheme and the cake he praised when announcing an April 12 missile attack on Syria. (After the dinner, an Israeli singer performed “New York, New York” for the Trumps.)
The remaining ceremonial meals Trump was scheduled to attend on the European leg of his voyage were few and scattered.
The president met with the pope on Wednesday, but not for dinner. Same with the president of Italy and the king of Belgium. On Thursday, he lunched with the president of France in Brussels (veal chops instead of steak) and then dined with representatives from 28 NATO countries. The menu for the latter was not published as of press time.
Sadly, the White House press corps may never ask Trump the most pressing culinary question from his first international tour: Whether the president noted the distinction among halal steak, kosher steak and steak from the European Union, which bans hormone-treated beef from the United States.