The Nation: The First Lady's Own Tour

LIKE any curious homemaker, she first had to have a look at the kitchen. "I think all Americans love Chinese food," she said. "So I thought of it."

There was a lot to look at—and nibble on—in the kitchen of the Peking Hotel, an immaculate, white-tiled temple of taste employing 115 cooks and helpers. Sniffing and sampling as she went, she paused over the array of delicacies—goldfish in white sauce, egg rolls rampant on a field of seaweed, steamed baby bird couchant on clamshell pastry—and with the judicious eye of a diner selecting one from Column A and one from Column B....

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