Le menu for tonight's state dinner (India Prime Minister)

[baby_bear]

Too bad W doesn't get any of these fine wines....

http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jul/19menu.htm
<snip>

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs Gursharan Kaur will get a taste, literally, of White House hospitality at the gala dinner tonight. The White House has a long tradition of dining table finesse and protocol, even within the pantry, that has been perfected over scores of years, and its chefs are known to be among some of the best in the country. Interestingly, the dinner menu comes from the office of First Lady Laura Bush.

Here's a quick look at what's on Dr Singh's table tonight. In literal terms, that is a saffron silk tablecloth, topped with trumpeting elephants made of green button mums, along with floral blankets of Hot Lady roses and layered centerpieces of saffron and hot pink roses, green mums and denobrium orchids on golden tripods.
...
Dinner itself is a gourmet affair, starting off with chilled asparagus soup and lemon crème, to be accompanied with a Chappellet Chardonnay 'Napa Valley' 2003. The entrée will have a vegetarian and non-vegetarian selection: Pan-roasted Halibut, Ginger-Carrot Butter, Basmati Rice with Pistachios and Currants, Herbed Summer Vegetables, Trio of Celery Hearts, Leaves and Roots. All of this will be washed down with a Hartford Court Pinot Noir 'Arrendell' 2002.
...
This will be followed by a salad of Bibb lettuces with citrus vinaigrette, while lotus blossom, mango, chocolate-cardamom and cashew ice creams will bring up the dessert, along with a Mer Soleil 'Late' 2001.
</snip>

hmmm....does one eat the green mums and denobrium orchids?

b_b

[Sannum]

1. you can eat them if they were grown organically for human consumption...

They are meant to be a garnish, not a dish though...

This menu is supposed to represent the best of american culture and cuisine? Why didn't Laura just order in from Appleby's:eyes:

I guess it is an improvent over when they served enchaladas to the Queen during a return state dinner in the UK:puke:

[baby_bear]

3. I had forgotten about that!

Thanks, Sannum!



b_b

[catnhatnh]

4. No- enchiladas at least represent...

...a regional american cuisine....Basatami rice????How about a non-vegetarian meal of aged Omaha sirloins cooked over open mesquite, fresh picked sweet corn (and I mean picked no more than 90 minutes prior to cooking and flown in on an AF jet) and a stuffed Maine potato...you know...the best of AMERICA...even for Christ sake cheeseburgers and reflect something normal folk eat that also taste good...But no-pretend to sophistication far above Bushes REAL state....I'm betting he eats "lite" and goes home to slim jims and nachos...but by all means, keep up a good front...

[Sannum]

6. I am a food snob, I admit....

but they can't even pretend to have any sort of elegant front. America does not have any good "cuisine" so to speak. We have fusion, but to do that successfully, you have to have a good chef. Pickles fired the chef last year because he could not get a successful bean to weenie ratio.

The LAST thing we need to do is serve "steakn'taters" to the Indian PM. We are enough of a joke:7

[catnhatnh]

16. Is there something wrong...

...with making the best "steak and taters" on the planet??? I don't doubt that Japnese "Kobe" beef is great-I just know damn well that most Japanese can not afford the $90+ per kilo cost of their beef..but I know I can buy steer beef for $3.49 a pound and have a goumet delight...

[Maple]

7. I think you serve a meal

with your guest in mind, not advertising.

I don't think serving beef to someone from India would be courteous.

And in some areas of the world, corn is animal food, and would be an insult.

[Sannum]

8. exactly

though it would not surprise me if they were to serve pork chops on an Israeli visit:P

[catnhatnh]

12. Sorry...

...and others could perhaps suggest a tasty veggie type meal,but what I suggested is some of the things we do best.I have no idea of the Premiers dietary restrictions.I have heard of "sacred cow" but have no idea how it applies...I don't beleive the Indians are as a whole a fishing folk.As to corn being a "feed" you know that is horseshit as do I-would not a good ear of sweet corn dispel that myth?I expect that other than straight bannede items a head of state is bound to try what is presented...

[Maple]

14. He is likely a vegetarian

and Indians do eat corn.

But many people do not as it is considered animal feed, and no that isn't 'horseshit', it's an insult. They wouldn't 'try it'...anymore than a Jew or a Muslim would 'try' porkchops.

They don't 'eat what is presented', the menu is set way ahead of time so that food restrictions and allergies and so on are taken into account.

[catnhatnh]

17. No, an insult is to fail to approach a food prepared by a host...

...and to ascribe negative attributes to it...we produce HUGE amounts of corn and to denigrate our corn would be no less than for US to denigrate rice...We eat it,we DO feed animals,We make sugar syrup and even fuel from it.Again-would you like Bush to laugh at rice??

[Maple]

2. Carefully

and with ice wine.

[Pilotguy]

5. Laura to George...

"George, you don't chug Chappellet Chardonnay!"

[leftofthedial]

9. I spent the day working at the loading dock for my county's homeless

services organization food and clothing bank

this is obscene

[Maple]

11. It's a state dinner

There are homeless in India too, but if Bush visited New Delhi they wouldn't serve him a couple of spoonsful of plain rice.

[idlisambar]

10. Sounds very tasty n/t

[Historic NY]

13. Fish.....thats it.........

you'd think they would have something that comes out of American waters like pan fried trout. No beef, must be the holy cow thing. No chicken. I thought they fired the WH cook and replaced him with a BBQ chef.

[Contrary1]

15. "...topped with trumpeting elephants made of green button mums"

Would that be Republican elephants, or Indian elephants?

[Tanuki]

18. Basmati Rice

I wonder if whoever planned the menu remembered that basmati rice was the subject of a huge international legal battle a few years ago when a Texas (no surprise there) agribusiness tried to patent it, ripping off the Indian farmers who had been growing it for centuries. The patent was overturned only after being appealed by the Indian government and being an international cause celebre. At least the president's Indian dinner guest will be able to smile to himself over that victory as he enjoys the basmati rice at the state dinner.
http://www.cb3rob.net/~merijn89/ARCH1/msg00372.html

[peacefreak]

19. Was there yellowcake

for dessert?

[quaoar]

20. LOL

Indeed. With a side order of crow.