There was mayonnaise mixed with ants at a gastronomic taqueria in Mexico City. The garlic at a Persian restaurant in Frankfurt was aged 25 years. And, yes, the magic mushrooms in Beijing were hallucinogenic.
This isn’t an Anthony Bourdain travel show but rather a taste of what Janet L. Yellen, the Treasury secretary, has been eating on the road over the more than 300,000 miles she has logged over the last three years as she has been grappling with inflation and devising new ways to cripple the Russian economy.
“It’s not like it’s a scheme to conduct some sort of diplomacy,” Ms. Yellen, 77, said during an interview in June over scrambled eggs with onions and home fries at Sarge’s Delicatessen and Diner in New York City. “Nevertheless, it does seem to have had that impact.”
Ms. Yellen’s food adventures have become the subject of global fascination over the past year, with local and social media lighting up about where and what she eats. The intrigue has been a surprising twist in the tenure of Ms. Yellen, an economist and former Federal Reserve chair, who unlike most previous Treasury secretaries prizes mixing in cultural experiences with the grind of government travel.
Ms. Yellen once described her family meals as too rich with economics talk to be appetizing to most, but as Treasury secretary she has been unleashing her inner Guy Fieri (she’s a fan of his show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”). But beyond that, food adventures have become a way to connect with other officials, and her staff, while gaining a better understanding of local economies.
Some of Ms. Yellen’s most important moments on the job have involved breaking bread. In Brussels in 2021, she persuaded Paschal Donohoe, the Irish finance minister at the time, to join an international tax agreement over pastries at the Hotel Amigo. In 2022, Ms. Yellen gathered finance ministers from the Group of 7 nations at the Treasury Department and ordered in chicken and salads as they completed a plan to cap the price of Russian oil.
Working dinners in China were more formal banquet meals, where Chinese officials kept the wine flowing. On occasion, Ms. Yellen paced herself by inviting her under secretary, Jay Shambaugh, to help swig some of the alcohol poured for her during the many toasts.
Ms. Yellen’s most famous culinary experience came last summer in Beijing, when she ate with her team at a Yunnan-style restaurant and consumed a dish made with hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Despite rising tensions over the prospect of a new round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, China’s state media praised Ms. Yellen’s use of chopsticks at a Cantonese restaurant in Guangzhou.
The messaging matters, too. After a news conference in April, Ms. Yellen stopped for beers at a Beijing microbrewery that uses American hops, highlighting the reach of U.S. exports.
Her hypothesis about the hysteria is that top government officials aren’t usually seen eating in public. Ms. Yellen, however, prefers a normal restaurant experience.
“The coverage that my eating has gotten in places like China has been crazy,” Ms. Yellen said with a laugh. “I mean, everybody in Washington, New York and California uses chopsticks.”
Sometimes Ms. Yellen’s meals are geared toward team building and giving staff members time with the boss.
After finishing meetings with finance ministers in Italy in May, the Treasury secretary fielded questions from reporters about a plan to use Russia’s central bank assets to help Ukraine. She then turned to aides with a directive: “Let’s eat.”
En route to the airport, she stopped at a pizza restaurant where, breaking from the etiquette of her Brooklyn roots, Ms. Yellen ate her pizza as many Italians do — with utensils.
In keeping with her penchant for preparation, Ms. Yellen personally researches food options, vetting restaurant reviews on her phone.
A trip to the San Francisco airport last year to greet Xi Jinping, China’s president, took a detour when Ms. Yellen craved an In-N-Out cheeseburger. A picture of her wearing a trench coat while ordering was widely shared on social media, spurring speculation about her toppings.
After visiting a lithium-processing factory in rural North Carolina last fall, Ms. Yellen planned to eat with Gov. Roy Cooper at a nearby restaurant. But when Mr. Cooper, a Democrat, couldn’t make it, she had other lunch ideas.
Having familiarized herself with the city of Gastonia’s local fare, the Treasury secretary had her motorcade head to Ray’s Smokehouse, a barbecue joint with a jukebox and good Yelp reviews. She ordered the pulled pork sandwich and ate fried pickles. On the way out, Ms. Yellen posed for pictures and chatted with members of the restaurant staff.
Ms. Yellen explained that dining with local officials and talking to people at restaurants helps inform her thinking as a policymaker.
“I certainly look at national data sets to understand what’s happening in the economy, but talking to people about what they’re experiencing is often really helpful in getting your mind around where people are coming from,” Ms. Yellen said, noting that she often meets people in districts that don’t necessarily favor Democrats. “You can establish a friendlier relationship than you can sitting at a conference table.”
But sometimes Ms. Yellen, who routinely dismisses questions about when she’ll retire, seems to just be having fun.
At Sarge’s, where she has eaten four times as Treasury secretary, Ms. Yellen was greeted by a group of star-struck retired officials from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. They asked her about interest rates and thanked her for her service. After she left, one described her as “the bomb.”
The previous night, after receiving an award from the Economic Club of New York, Ms. Yellen and her staff headed to Sammy’s Roumanian Steak House for a family-style meal of meats. When the keyboardist kicked off the nightly tradition where patrons hold hands and dance the hora, Ms. Yellen got up and joined.
“She’s a trooper,” said Rona Zimmerman, co-owner of Sammy’s.