The jian shou qing mushroom popular in Yunnanese cuisine notoriously has hallucinogenic effects when improperly prepared
© Getty Images / Kevin Dietsch
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ate multiple portions of a Yunnanese mushroom delicacy known for its hallucinogenic properties as her first meal in China last week, an aide confirmed to CNN on Saturday.
Yellen enjoyed four helpings of the wild – and potentially psychedelic – mushroom jian shou qing at Yunnanese restaurant chain Yi Zuo Yi Wang with her delegation immediately after landing in China, the restaurant confirmed on Weibo. “Our staff said she loved mushrooms very much,” the chain revealed, noting the extra portions she had ordered and describing the experience as “an extremely magical day.”
While the jian shou qing mushroom is not psychoactive when fully cooked, it is toxic enough when improperly prepared that it was listed in the Botanical Society of Yunnan’s index of poisonous mushrooms last year, triggering a discussion of whether the cherished regional delicacy should remain on the menu. However, its popularity guarantees its survival.
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Unlike more familiar species of psychedelic mushrooms, the compounds responsible for the hallucinogenic properties of jian shou qing – whose scientific name is Lanmaoa asiatica – remain undiscovered, Dr. Peter Mortimer of Kunming Institute of Botany told CNN.
A local food blogger’s post about witnessing Yellen wolfing down the magic mushroom in Beijing sparked a brief viral craze over the dish, with the chain reporting it had sold out in numerous locations. State news outlet Xinhua ran a segment on how to safely eat the fungi, which can be distinguished from more ordinary local species of porcini mushrooms by the striking blue color the insides turn when sliced or otherwise subjected to pressure.
The staff of the Yi Zuo Yi Wang chain restaurant where Yellen’s party dined insisted their jian shou qing dishes were all properly cooked. The Yunnan region of China is home to around 800 mushroom species, which feature prominently in regional festivals and even city planning and architecture, according to Mortimer.
Yellen described her four-day visit to China as a “step forward” after multiple setbacks between Washington and Beijing, including President Joe Biden’s description of his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, as a “dictator” and the administration’s increasingly generous weapons sales to Taiwan in the face of protest from China.
Declaring “the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive,” the treasury secretary insisted the US was not trying to “decouple” its economy from its Asian rival, while defending the Biden administration’s export restrictions as “motivated by straightforward national security concerns” rather than an effort to “gain economic advantage.”
