Oh his recent trip to Japan, President Trump was criticized for passing up traditional Japanese food during his first dinner with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Instead, the two men chowed down on burgers. A little egotistical, some thought. But it turns out, the Japanese people are loving it.
Never known for doing anything halfway when it comes to trends, residents of Tokyo have gone crazy for the cheeseburger Trump was served, CNN reports.
It started when Abe tweeted a photo of the two men eating burgers before a round of golf (and while a bottle of Heinz ketchup sat before them). The owner of Munch’s Burger Shack in Tokyo was asked to come to the golf club to cook for the diplomatic duo, later publicizing the fact on social media. “It was an honor to cook for President Trump,” he said.
トランプ大統領の来日を、心より歓迎します！今から、さっそくハンバーガーでビジネスランチです。@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/9RiaibqNLO
— 安倍晋三 (@AbeShinzo) November 5, 2017
Since then, the restaurant, considered one of Tokyo’s top burger joints, has been swamped, warning customers of “congestion” on Facebook.
After Japan, Trump swung into China on Thursday, where he was served a menu of Chinese food that didn’t seem particularly Chinese. At the state dinner hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, the menu included “Seafood Chowder” and “Stewed Beef Steak in Tomato Sauce,” Mashable reported.
According to the South China Morning Post, chefs designing the official state-dinner menus take into account a guest’s “tastes, age and state of health.”
It’s been a bumper week for news about Trump’s burger-related habits. Politico reported that Trump requests that White House chefs replicate McDonald’s Quarter Pounders With Cheese for him. When they inevitably didn’t pass muster, recently-departed Trump aide Keith Schiller would make a run to Mickey D’s to pick one up for the First Junk Food Fan, along with a fried apple pie for dessert.
