Does China's Xi Jinping have a sweet tooth?
How does he feel about salty snacks?
As it turns out, Xi's culinary preferences are wide-ranging and global.
Keep watching to see what China's leader likes to chow down on.
In 2013, Xi Jinping's lunch hit the headlines when he ate at a local-style Qingfeng restaurant
in Beijing.
His order went viral, becoming known as the "Uncle Xi Combo".
This laid-back lunch consisted of pork and onion steamed dumplings, liver and stir-fried
green vegetables with the local people.
While the dishes Xi Jinping ate are Chinese, and follow their own specific recipes, liver
and onions is a traditional meal many people enjoy the world over.
"Want to go celebrate?
I feel like liver and onions."
An article in The Atlantic suggests that eating this casual lunch in public, which is a rare
sight in China for a leader, is in keeping with the president's anti-corruption stance
and his views on excessive dining by officials.
In other words, a down-to-earth lunch of steamed buns may have been a message against government
gluttony.
Either way, a Chinese leader eating in a restaurant among the locals is definitely going to create
a stir.
The next day, the lines for the restaurant were huge.
Whether politics was mixed into the ingredients or not, the restaurant's boom in popularity
after the president's visit is real proof in the pudding of just how interested so many
people are in what Xi Jinping eats.
Xi Jinping and his love of the food of the people does not stop when he travels abroad.
In 2015, the then British Prime Minister, David Cameron invited Xi Jinping for a thirst-quenching
pint of ale during his visit to the U.K.
The two leaders drank beer at a village pub in the heart of the English countryside, close
to Cameron's country retreat in Chequers.
During their visit to The Plough at Cadsden, the two sipped a pint of Greene King IPA which
subsequently became in big demand in China.
In an article in The Guardian, an importer of the beer reported that demand had, quote,
"gone berserk."
Within a couple of days of the pub lunch between the two world leaders, people from all across
China were calling the importer because they wanted the same beer Xi drank.
The two men did not have just a liquid lunch, however, with Xi Jinping and his political
dining partner eating traditional British fare with a mini fish and chips served with
homemade tartar sauce.
In England, the word chips refers to fries in the U.S., and what are known as chips in
the U.S. are called crisps across the pond.
During 2016, a photo opportunity in Warsaw snapped Xi Jinping eating apples with Polish
President Andrzej Duda.
As well as enjoying the rosy-red apple, Xi Jinping was taking a bite to promote China's
signing of an agreement allowing Polish apples to be exported into the country.
Poland is the main producer of apples in Europe and the produce can be brought to China via
rail, making the transport less expensive than by air and quicker than by sea.
"How'd you like them apples?"
In 2017, news footage captured Xi Jinping eating Swiss fondue with his wife during a
visit to Bern, Switzerland for the annual Davos World Economic Forum.
Dining with former Swiss President Doris Leuthard, the presidential Chinese couple Xi enjoyed
dipping their fondue forks of bread into the gooey melted cheese.
A cheesy fondue could be seen as perhaps the least likely dish that Xi Jinping may eat
as cheese doesn't really feature all that much in Chinese cuisine.
In recent years, however, China seems to have fallen in love with cheese and all things
dairy, including yogurt and chocolate.
While Xi Jinping may have sampled foods from around the world, as well as enjoyed simple
Chinese foods, he is also passionate about food waste.
In 2020, Xi Jinping launched Operation Empty Plate, a campaign that aims to achieve greater
food security.
According to a report highlighted in China Daily, it's estimated that the food China
throws away could feed around 30-50 million people annually.
Highlighting this is a way of creating a more sustainable future, not just for the Chinese,
but people around the world.
For a man who pushed his plate away at the idea of fancy banquets of excess, it doesn't
seem at all surprising that Xi Jinping wants everybody else in China to think about what
they eat, and how much.
That said, when exploring what Xi Jinping likes to eat, it certainly seems to be the
case that his favorite type of food is one that gets eaten.
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