US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, 76, may be responsible for ‘hallucinogenic’ mushrooms after she repeatedly knelt down to China’s vice premier as she ordered four portions at dinner (but the chef insisted they weren’t psychedelic).
The usually tactful Yellen has come under fire from Republicans for breaking diplomatic protocol by kowtowing to her Chinese counterpart, now it has been suggested that her behavior may have been the result of eating potentially hallucinogenic mushrooms at a restaurant in Beijing.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen may have been responsible for hallucinogenic mushrooms with China’s vice premier after ordering four portions at dinner three nights before their meeting, sources have claimed.
Jian sho king mushrooms, which have psychedelic properties when not cooked well, are part of a traditional dish Yellen polished off at Beijing restaurant Yi Zuo Yi Wang on July 6.
The typically statesmanlike politician, 76, then came under fire from Republican opponents for bowing to his Chinese opponent, He Leifeng, on July 9.
It has now been suggested that her behavior may have been a result of Yellen’s mushrooms which Yellen enjoyed so much – although the restaurant claims the mushrooms were properly prepared.
‘Our staff said he was very fond of mushrooms. He ordered four parts of Jian Shu Qing. It was a very magical day,’ the restaurant posted on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media site.
Yellen, 76, reportedly ordered four portions of the potentially hallucinogenic mushroom during her trip to Beijing last week.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (pictured right) eats at a restaurant during a trip to Beijing in early July 2023, as seen in this post on Weibo captioned: US Treasury Secretary Yellen here
Yellen’s dish soon began trending on the site and prompted discussion of the mushroom’s purported properties.
“I have a friend who accidentally ate them and had hallucinations for three days,” Peter Mortimer, a professor at Yunnan’s Kunming Institute of Botany, told CNN.
If cooked properly, as the restaurant says, Jian Shu King dishes should not have psychedelic properties.
Mortimer explained that the mushroom was considered poisonous because it could be hallucinogenic.
‘Scientists have not, so far, been able to identify the compounds responsible for hallucinations. It remains a bit of a mystery and most of the evidence is anecdotal’ he added.
However, it is generally understood that the mushroom loses any psychedelic effects when properly cooked.
Jian shou qing – which looks a lot like a porcini mushroom – literally translates as ‘sea hand blue’ – named for the way the inside surface of the mushroom turns blue when you apply pressure to it.
During the two-day visit, Yellen met with senior Chinese officials, including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Vice Finance Minister Liao Min and Pan Gongsheng, the new Communist Party chief of China’s central bank.
After her repeated and effective bow to He Lilong, Yellen was criticized for showing weakness and ‘lack of effective leverage’ on the US side.
‘An American officer does not bow. It looks like he’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the picture of Chinese love,’ Bradley Blakeman, a senior White House staffer under George W. Bush, told the New York Post at the time.
Author Max Murray said: ‘As an American official he did not understand that bowing was a breach of protocol.
‘They don’t reciprocate. He even steps back to give him more room in the kotto.’
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks to women economists during an official state visit in Beijing on July 8
Yellen during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.
A typically state politician came under fire for breaking diplomatic protocol after ingesting potentially hallucinogenic mushrooms.
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