What Yellen Ate In China Is Getting A Lot Of Attention
It appears that psychedelic mushrooms may have been the cause of an embarrassing moment for U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week.
Yellen, 76, stopped into a casual Beijing restaurant soon after she arrived in the city on July 6th. According to Chinese state media, she ate four portions of jian shou qing, a type of wild mushroom known to have unpredictable psychedelic effects.
The Xinhua state news agency reported one gourmand as saying, “You thought you were walking straight but you just fell sideways. I have a friend who mistakenly ate them and hallucinated for three days.”
Dr. Peter Mortimer, a professor at Kunming Institute of Botany, echoed the statement to CNN, saying, “I have a friend who mistakenly ate them and hallucinated for three days.”
This strange culinary choice appears to have been the culprit behind Yellen's hug with a Chinese official, which sparked a barrage of criticism after it was caught on video and posted to social media.
Yellen’s visit to the Yi Zuo Yi Wang restaurant chain not only caused a stir on Weibo, the Chinese social media network, but a surge of reservations as well.
“It was an extremely magical day,” the restaurant said of the secretary’s visit.
These events followed shortly after a bag of cocaine was discovered in the White House and two stashes of marijuana were uncovered during a Secret Service sweep.
While it may be thought that Yellen’s mushroom bender was part of a larger pattern of recreational drug use in Washington, it’s highly likely that the Secretary of the Treasury was unaware of the psychedelic side effects associated with the mushrooms.
The U.S. Treasury Department has yet to issue an official statement on the matter. Yellen has not commented publicly on the incident or the mushrooms.
It is unclear whether Yellen did, in fact, consume a psychedelic mushroom, or if she ingested a weaker variety that is native to the Yunnan province of China that is not as prone to cause hallucinations.
There has been no evidence to support the suspicion that Yellen had any other substance in her possession, so the mysterious incident may remain a mystery for the time being.