SOMEWHAT jet-lagged and tired out by the 13-hour time difference, Nixon and his entourage were whisked by motorcade to the Great Hall of the People. Chinese premier Zhou Enlai sat between the Nixons at a massive round table beneath enormous floodlit flags of the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Each place setting had chopsticks as well as a knife and fork. Most of the Americans gamely tried to use the chopsticks with varying degrees of success. Occasionally Zhou would pick delicacies from the multitude of plates with his own chopsticks, which he was using to stuff food in his own mouth, and place them demurely on the president’s and First Lady’s plates, to their obvious bemusement. The US president and his wife had spent weeks in the White House practising using chopsticks and learning some basic greetings in Chinese, but their prowess was being sorely tested.

The table decorations consisted of an explosion of ornamental grasses with strategically positioned kumquats. A small orchestra from the People’s Liberation Army mingled American favourites like “America The Beautiful” and “Home On The Range” with Chinese folk songs. The entire affair was televised and broadcast live around the world, including, thanks to the time difference, on the US morning news.

Course after course was followed by an endless round of toasts, washed down with crystal-clear, 30-year-old Maotai, the sorghum-based Chinese liquor that can be unforgiving to the uninitiated. Prior to the visit an aide to Henry Kissinger had tasted Maotai and, gravely concerned about its effect on Nixon, cabled back a warning: “Under no, repeat no, circumstances should the president actually drink from his glass in response to banquet toasts.” Undeterred by such warnings, Nixon matched Zhou glass for glass, visibly wincing each time he drained a shot of the powerful liquor, while a battalion of white-jacketed waiters hovered behind the guests, refilling the Maotai and fruit juice every time a sip was taken or a toast was concluded.

Offering a toast, Nixon said that he had been warned that Maotai was over 50 per cent alcohol. He then told a joke about a man who had been drinking Maotai and tried to light a cigarette, exploding in the process. The assembled guests roared with laughter and Zhou grabbed a match, lit his goblet and with a blue flame licking from the glass, held it aloft for Nixon to see, provoking more roars of laughter.

But the American president did not intend to drink only Maotai with his dinner. He had brought 13 cases of Schramsberg 1969 Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine with him on Air Force One. When TV images were broadcast back to the US, Americans could see their president proposing a “toast to peace” and raising a glass with Premier Zhou of sparkling Schramsberg, from the Napa Valley in his home state of California.

The official menu for the banquet listed hors d’oeuvres, hundred-year-old eggs, bacon and small carp in vinegar sauce, spongy bamboo shoots and egg white consommé. Also on the menu were cucumber slices, tomato slices, sliced roast duck with pineapple, duck liver spring rolls and bread and butter. Guests were served sharks’ fin soup, fried and stewed prawns, mushroom and mustard greens, steamed chicken with coconut, almond junket, pastries and finally a selection of fruit including, Zhou proudly pointed out, tangerines from northern China. There was a constant rotation of traditional blue-and-white Chinese willow-pattern dishes from which the guests could choose a dazzling array of unusual (for the Americans) titbits.

The hundred-year-old or “century” eggs must have intrigued the US president and his team. These duck, chicken or quail eggs are preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice hulls for several weeks or months, causing the yolk to turn a dark green or grey colour with a creamy consistency and a taste like sulphur or ammonia. The white turns into a dark brown translucent jelly and the shell sometimes produces a strange pattern like the branches of pine trees. This Chinese delicacy is certainly an acquired taste.

FOR the most part, these were classic Chinese dishes, elegantly served, with the main courses focusing on food that the Chinese thought the Americans might be familiar with, which is why there was a preponderance of duck and prawns. But with few exceptions, most of the dishes contained exotic ingredients that the Nixons would never have come across in America. The emphasis was on purity and elegance of taste, typified perhaps by the sharks’ fin soup and the almond junket, both bland foods, which delighted the ultra-refined Chinese palate in the upper ranks of the ruling Communist Party.

As was common at the time, the Chinese furiously smoked pungent cigarettes throughout the dinner, often holding their chopsticks in one hand and a cigarette in the other, Nixon, as an avid pipe-smoker often consuming up to eight bowls a day, didn’t object. Indeed packs of cigarettes from Air Force One were distributed around the tables by the Americans and later it was noticed that several of the Chinese guests were studying the packets and discussing excitedly what was written on the labels. It was their first encounter with the ubiquitous health warning: “the Surgeon General states that smoking these cigarettes can be harmful to your health.”

The friendly atmosphere at the dinner and the lengthy and productive discussions that took place between Zhou and Nixon culminated in a toast from Zhou in which he said: “The social systems of China and the US are fundamentally different and there are great differences between the US Government and the Chinese government. However, these differences should not hinder China and the US from establishing normal state relations. We hope, through a frank exchange of views between our two sides, to gain a clearer notion of our differences and make efforts to gain common ground. A new start can be made between our two countries.”

The Course Of History: Ten Meals That Changed The World by Struan Stevenson with recipes by Tony Singh MBE is published by Birlinn, £16.99

RECIPES:

HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD EGGS

6 fresh duck eggs

475ml very strong black tea

100g salt

120g each ashes of pine wood, ashes of charcoal and ashes from fireplace

150g lime

Combine tea, salt, ashes and lime. Using about ó cup per egg, thickly coat each egg completely with this clay-like mixture. Line a large crock with garden soil and carefully lay coated eggs on top. Cover with more soil and place crock in a cool dark place. Allow to cure for 4– 5 weeks.

To remove coating, scrape eggs and rinse under running water to clean thoroughly. Crack lightly and remove shells. To serve, cut into wedges and serve with sweet pickled scallions (green onions) or any sweet pickled vegetable. Serve with sauce of 2 tbsp each vinegar, soy sauce and rice wine and 1 tbsp minced ginger root.

SALT AND PEPPER PRAWNS

24 large sized prawns, cleaned but with shell and head left on

peanut oil for frying

2 tbsp Maldon salt for rubbing the prawns before cooking

24 cloves garlic, finely chopped

12 spring onions, sliced

12 bird’s eye chilli peppers, sliced with seeds

2 tsps salt to taste

First, butterfly the prawns for easier cleaning then rub them with the salt and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour in the fridge. Prepare a wok for deep-frying the prawns. Once oil is hot, turn heat to medium. Fry the prawns in batches, as you have to make sure you don’t overcrowd your wok. Fry for about 3– 4minutes depending on the size of the prawns. Continue with the rest of the prawns until all have been completed. Clean your wok. Heat wok until almost smoking. Add about 2 tbsp cooking oil and turn heat to low. Swirl to coat. Add the garlic, onions and chilli slices into the wok. Stir-fry till aromatic. Add another 2 tsp of salt. Add in the prawns from earlier and stir well to coat. Turn heat to high again and stir briskly for another 30 seconds. Serve hot.