Margaret Thatcher in China: No fish lips or sea slugs on the menu, please
THE Iron Lady’s fortitude fell short when it came to dining on Chinese delicacies such as sea slugs and fish lips, her files reveal.
She was only too happy to see such gastronomic challenges removed from the menu during a trip to Beijing in 1982.
Mrs Thatcher wanted to throw a banquet for her hosts in the Communist Party’s Great Hall of the People.
Aides were given a choice of three menus at £15, £22 or £30 a head. The notoriously cost-conscious Prime Minister chose the cheapest.
Her personal secretary, Caroline Stephens, wrote to Percy Craddock, British ambassador in Beijing, telling him the fish dishes were “of a kind which most English people prefer not to eat”.
She added: “We might perhaps ask for an alternative fish course to be suggested in its place.
“The inclusion of bread, butter and strawberry jam probably dates back to the days of Sino-Soviet entente: perhaps we should suggest their deletion and replacement with fresh fruit or fruit salad.”