US President Donald Trump's visit to Seoul doesn't look like a dull affair. Authentic South Korean spread and traditional homemade dishes will be on the menu for Trump and his wife Melania at the state banquet in Seoul on Tuesday, November 7.
South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook will be serving the traditional spread to US President Donald Trump. After the diplomatic talks with Trump at Sanchunjae, which is a traditional Korean wooden house inside the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to have tea with his guests all the way from America.
Trump's visit to Seoul is more than just diplomatic talks, nukes and North Korea. His visit sounds like a great affair when the taste buds are concerned. As per reports, Trump and Melania will be served with chocolate-coated dried persimmons called gotgam and a herbal tea called 'Serene Morning of PyeongChang'.
Kim personally picked the persimmons from trees to make the gotgam. In Korean cuisine, gotgam is taken as a refreshment or is used as an ingredient in other foods. Kim made 'gotgam ssam' by stuffing walnuts into the dried persimmons after which she coated them with chocolate. This, however, is not a wrap-up, for, after tea, the dinner at the Blue House compound is nothing short of grand. The menu includes a beef rib dish which will be served with a 360-year-old soy sauce. The sauce was made in 1657, the same year in which Benjamin Franklin, the Father of US Declaration of Independence was born.
Soy sauce in South Korean cuisine is a fermented sauce. Like wine, this staple is fermented for decades or even centuries and is sold at a high price. A group of artisans in 2012, displayed a soy sauce and claimed it to be 450 years old. The price of the sauce was 100 million won (USD 90,000). Tuesday's menu will also serve Trump with his favourite grilled sole. The Seoul menu will also feature various prawn dishes.
The security, meanwhile, has been beefed up by the police at the US Embassy in Seoul. Roads leading to Cheong Wa Dae has been closed. Iron fences have been placed at Gwanghwamun Plaza.
Trump will be delivering a speech to the South Korean Parliament on November 8 before he leaves for China. He is scheduled to visit the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summits in Vietnam and the Philippines, respectively.
