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It has been reported that Janet Yellen may have experienced the psychedelic effects of wild mushrooms consumed during a visit at a local restaurant in Beijing, China.
According to Chinese state media, Yellen dined on jian shou qing, a type of wild mushroom known for its unpredictable psychedelic effects, during a casual meal at the popular restaurant Yi Zuo Yi Wang shortly after she arrived in Beijing on July 6.
“You thought you were walking straight, but you just fell sideways,” one gourdmand told the Xinhua state news agency in a report about the shroom’s “potent powers” – published only after Yellen departed.
Yellen’s indulgence of the hallucinogenic mushrooms took place before her embarrassing bow on Saturday.
Yellen committed several diplomatic faux pas while in China, bowing multiple times to Vice Premier He Lifeng while enthusiastically shaking his hand.
Former White House staffer Bradley Blakeman, who served during President George W. Bush’s administration, told the New York Post that the gesture was unseemly.
“Never, ever, ever…an American official does not bow. It looks like she’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the optics the Chinese love,” Blakeman said.
The 76-year-old Treasury Secretary also tripped over Lifeng’s name several times, calling him “Vice Premier Hu” as she opened the first official American meeting with the economic chief.
Yellen’s experience with the magic mushrooms came just days after a bag of cocaine was discovered in the White House and before the Secret Service revealed that two stashes of marijuana were discovered in the executive mansion in 2022.
