| Our intrepid G8 politicians have gathered on the beautifully serene lake Toya, in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido for a round of cosy talks on such pesky subject matters like food shortages, climate change and various modern ills.
The global food shortage was not evident as the G8 leaders tucked in a "working lunch" of white asparagus and truffle soup followed by kegani crab salad, a supreme of chicken and cheese and coffee with exotic petit fours. Alongside bottled mineral waters, crates of Chateau Grillet 2005 was on offer for those who felt like a tipple as African leaders urged the G8 to tackle spiking oil and food prices, warning the crisis threatens to aggravate an already desperate plight in the continent.
Personally, I have known for some time that these "power summits" - concocted some thirty years ago in a fireside chat at Rambouillet - achieve little, if anything it provides some mental masturbatory moments for weary leaders and a promise of top notch repasts. If some of you have better information on past G8 feats not feasts, do tell.
Cross-posted at DKos |
Now for the serious stuff. The following is a blow by blow account of the dinner served last night. It had a fetching theme, "Blessings of the Earth and Sea". The first course, served after numerous canapes and amuse gueules, was a simple quartet of exotica: corn stuffed with caviar (surely, a nod to bio-fuels), Smoked Salmon and Sea Urchin "Pain Surprise style", Hot Onion Tart and Winter Lily Bulb and Summer Savory. So far so good.
Food security and soaring oil prices are likely to overtake climate change in the priorities of the G-8 meeting starting Monday, though global warming was the theme set by the host, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Food and global warming are interconnected, said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. "They are not competing with each other on the international agenda. It is absolutely right that the food issue is receiving a lot of attention. That is a human crisis that's out there right now".
For the next course imagine a fan-shaped tray decorated with bamboo grasses carrying eight stunning delicacies: kelp-flavored cold Kyoto beef shabu-shabu, with asparagus dressed with sesame cream, nuggets of diced fatty flesh of tuna fish, with avocado and jellied soy sauce seasoned with the Japanese herb shiso, boiled clam sitting in a tomato and shiso in jellied clear soup of clam, water shield and pink conger dressed with a vinegary soy sauce, boiled prawn with jellied tosazu-vinegar, grilled eel rolled around burdock strip, candied sweet potato and fried and seasoned goby with soy sauce and smoked sugar. That's what I call a nifty appetizer.
On the eve of his departure on a two-week, three-nation Asian tour, the secretary general said the July 7-9 summit in the northern Japanese resort town of Toyako must face the three inter-related crises which demand "our immediate action." He said that before departing, he would write to each of the G8 leaders to lay out his concerns about the global food crisis, the need "to act now" on climate change if a deal to cut greenhouse gases is to be reached by the end of next year, and the emergency of development. "If ever there were a time to act, together as one, it is now," he told a press conference.
The third course is a muted Hairy Crab "Kegani" Bisque Style Soup. It is followed by the fourth course, a Salt-Grilled Bighand Thornyhead with Vinegary Water Pepper Sauce.
"To be meaningful and credible, a long-term goal must have a base year, it must be underpinned by ambitious midterm targets and actions," said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. "As it is expressed in the G-8 statement, the long-term goal is an empty slogan."
The fifth course, I suppose, is where the blessings of the Earth comes in, a Poele (a frying pan to you and I) of Milk Fed lamb from "Shiranuka" flavored with aromatic herbs and mustard with "cepes" and Black Truffle with emulsion sauce of Lamb's stock and pine seed oil. Phew! That's a mouthful.
The sixth course is a no nonsense special selection of Cheeses (all 17 of them), lavender honey and caramelized nuts, followed immediately by the seventh course, what the chef calls "the G8 Fantasy Dessert", and that is a surprise, I couldn't find any details. I wonder if it was similar and as grand as a Bombe Alaska!
Sir John Holmes's UN task force will be presenting its final report at the Summit. Leaders will probably pledge to do everything they can to increase food production and increase investment in agriculture - which is a good idea, though it does still leave the small fact that enough food is produced for everyone to eat today, but there are still 850-950 million undernourished people. Increasing yields isn't the whole story.
The eighth course is fairly pedestrian, coffee served with Candied Fruits and Vegetables (?) Now we have the liquids:
Le Reve Grand Cru Brut/La Seule Gloire Champagne; ISOJIMAN Junmai Daiginjo Nakadori (Sake)/Isojiman Shuzo Shizuoka;
Corton Charlemagne 2005/Louis Latour Bourgogne (if anything this wine is a bit young to be drunk now, but hey, these bozos won't notice!); Ridge California Monte Bello 1997.
Last year's G8 summit agreed that the leaders would 'consider seriously' at least halving carbon emissions by 2050. On Wednesday, each G8 leader will dine on a 200 pound giant crab prepared by a French chef. I feel their pain.
As a part of the Japanese Tanabata festival, GWB had written (yes, by hand!) on a piece of parchment tied to a piece of bamboo "I wish for a world free from tyranny: the tyranny of hunger, disease and free from tyrannical governments." I take comfort in the knowledge that in his Panglossian mind all is well that ends well. Bon appetit! |
