WORLD NEWS | Biden holds lavish dinner with South Korean president for hundreds of people

WASHINGTON, April 26 (AP) – About 200 people from politics, business and entertainment are expected to attend a lavish formal dinner hosted by President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday night in honor of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his The country’s 70-year alliance with the United States.

Guests will be seated in the largest East Room of the Administration Building, with tables adorned with branches of cherry blossoms in full bloom. They will eat crab cakes, steak ribs and banana chips.

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First lady Jill Biden, who is overseeing planning for the administration’s second state dinner, hired Korean-American celebrity chef Edward Lee to create a menu featuring the “best of America” ​​— — but with a Korean twist. Lee is known for adding Korean flavors to American food.

“It’s not traditional Korean food, it just gives you a little bit of Korean flavor,” he said as he previewed the dinner set-up at the White House this week.

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The crab cake appetizer comes with a salad of cabbage, kohlrabi, fennel and cucumber, topped with a balsamic vinaigrette made with chili sauce, red pepper sauce and a bowl of chilled yellow squash soup. Braised beef short ribs are the main course, topped with sorghum carrots and topped with a dollop of semolina made with butter beans instead of corn.

Dessert is a deconstructed version of the American classic banana chip with lemon bar ice cream, caramelized bananas, fresh berries and mint ginger cookie crumble, topped with a caramel sauce infused with fermented soybean paste doenjang.

After dinner, guests will be taken to the State Dining Room, located at the other end of the State Floor, to enjoy performances by Broadway stars Norm Lewis, Leah Salonga and Jessica Worsk.

State visits, including arrival ceremonies and sparkling state dinners on the South Lawn, are the highest diplomatic honors the United States can bestow on its closest allies. Yoon is visiting the United States and South Korea to commemorate the 70th anniversary of an alliance that began at the end of the Korean War and pledged the United States to help South Korea defend itself, especially against North Korea. About 28,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea.

Biden was first invited to France for a state visit last year, and President Emmanuel Macron hosted a formal dinner in December with more than 300 guests in a heated gazebo on the south side of the White House, marking the He raised his glass to toast.

Ahead of Wednesday’s dinner, Jill Biden and her South Korean counterpart, Kim Kun-hee, toured an exhibition of a pair of Mark Rothko paintings at the National Gallery of Art, one of which will open to the public later this year.

Lee said his mother was the first person he told him about being invited to work with the White House kitchen staff. His mother was a Korean immigrant; he was born in Brooklyn, New York.

We’ve always been deeply grateful for the opportunities that the United States of America has had, and I’ve been able to have those opportunities,” Lee said. To be able to do that, you know, is a very proud moment for me and my mom.”

her suggestion? “She just said, don’t screw it up.” (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)