Cheong Wa Dae mulls over what to serve Trump in Korea

Cheong Wa Dae mulls over what to serve Trump in Korea. November. 06, 2017 07:59. by Keun-Hyung Yoo noel@donga.com.

South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae is laboring over the menu and drinks to be served at the banquet with U.S. President Donald Trump vising Korea this coming Tuesday.

Cheong Wa Dae is reviewing serving fusion food with a Korean basis at the state dinner of Presidents Moon Jae-in and Trump. This is in order to deliver the deep traditional taste of Korea while minimizing the feeling of unfamiliarity. “The Presidential Protocol Office is busy with preparations such as tasting the food be served to President Trump,” said a staff from the presidential office. In Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe treated President Trump with Wagyu steak at an unofficial dinner on Sunday.

What drinks are to be served will be a more difficult decision. Some have predicted that Napa Valley wine, which accounts for 80 percent of U.S. wine production but whose production volume decreased this year due to wildfire, will be served. However, in reality, non-alcoholic drinks such as coke are a more probable choice. This is because President Trump does not drink alcohol, due to his brother’s death of alcoholism. It was said that President Trump did not drink the wine but a non-alcoholic beverage at the United Nations General Assembly banquet in September. Trump’s love of coke goes so far as keeping a red button on his desk at the Oval Office so that he can get a can delivered by his secretarial staff.