US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ate hallucinogenic mushrooms at a Beijing restaurant during her recent trip to liaise with the Chinese government, the senior official revealed in an interview with CNN.
"I went with a large group of people who organized dinner and ordered food. There was a delicious mushroom dish. I didn't know that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I found out later," the 77-year-old secretary revealed with a laugh.
Yellen explained, however, that none of the diners felt psychedelic "highs": "I found that when these mushrooms are well cooked, and I'm sure they were because it's a very good restaurant, they have no effect at all," she added.
The dinner of the head of the US Treasury went viral on social networks after a Chinese blogger revealed that he saw her eating with a group of people at the Yi Zuo Yi Wang restaurant in Beijing.
The business confirmed that Yellen was her client and that the group she dined with ordered four dishes of mushrooms typical of Yunnan cuisine in southern China.
The secretary was in Beijing at the beginning of July as part of the strategy of the administration of President Joe Biden to establish stable communication channels with China that avoid a direct conflict between both powers.
During the stay, Yellen claimed that the competition between the United States and China must be done "under certain rules" so that the two countries can benefit.
The person in charge of the Treasury was in China a month after the visit of the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, who met in Beijing with the president of the Asian country, Xi Jinping.
