US' Yellen eats 'magic mushrooms' during Beijing visit
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US treasury secretary Janet Yellen was seen eating a mushroom known for being hallucinogenic during her visit to Beijing.
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Janet Yellen laughs during a news conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. (AP)
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen revealed to CNN, that during her visit to China back in July, she consumed a magic mushroom-based dish called Jian shou qing, translated to “see hand blue”, after she was seen eating the mushroom known for being hallucinogenic.
“I went with this large group of people and the person who’d arranged our dinner did the ordering. There was a delicious mushroom dish I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I learned that later,” she said.
Lanmaoa asiatica mushrooms turn blue when bruised or sliced.
Dr. Peter Mortimer, professor at Kunming Institute of Botany, told CNN on Tuesday that “Lanmaoa mushrooms are considered poisonous as they can be hallucinogenic," adding: "However, scientists have not, as of yet, identified the compounds responsible for causing the hallucinations. It remains a bit of a mystery, and most evidence is anecdotal. I have a friend who mistakenly ate them and hallucinated for three days.”
Read more: Beijing hopes Yellen visit will put China, US relations on right track
After a Weibo (blogging website) user published a post spotting Yellen eating at the Yunnan restaurant called 'In and Out', a hashtag began trending online, translating to: “US Treasury Secretary Yellen’s first meal in Beijing is Yunannese".
However, Yellen claimed to CNN that “I can tell you that none of us were affected by the mushrooms,” and upon being asked what she meant about learning of the mushroom's effects "later", she responded: “I read that if the mushrooms are cooked properly, which I’m sure they were at this very good restaurant, that they have no impact. But all of us enjoyed the mushrooms [and] the restaurant, and none of us felt any ill effects from having eaten them."
Good news for the restaurant, though, as Weibo posted that the incident caused several locations to sell out within hours.
“At 2[pm], the Sanlitun store was the first to sell out; from 8 pm, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xi’an, Xiamen, and Tianjin stores were in a hurry until they were completely sold out,” In and Out said on Weibo.
