The rage in China? Mao Zedong’s hillbilly kitchen

Plus: What India's $600 million wedding was really about [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a burgeoning banquet of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Must-Reads - How much is that [dinosaur]( in the window? - Britain’s $5 billion [bitcoin stash](. - Japan needs to [go big or go home]( with startups. - Mr. Modi, take down that [tariff wall](! - Melting icecaps mean [longer days](. - Paul Kagame’s [diminishing reputation](. - A [strategic reserve]( of rice for everyone. Mao Zedong’s Hillbilly Kitchen I wrote this week about how European Union regulators have banished ants — used for their bright citric flavors — from Rene Redzepi’s acclaimed restaurant Noma in Copenhagen. Fine dining is facing other kinds of problems in China: Fewer and fewer people are opting for what they consider elitist cuisine. As Shuli Ren [writes](, “Michelin-starred restaurants have been throwing in the towel.” Instead, China’s diners are opting for the more proletarian food stylings of Hunan, the home province of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic. One specialty is black-colored stinky tofu. Never had it before? Shuli gives us an apt description: “[I]magine the taste of fried dough with blue cheese stuffing inside.” Mao famously preached that the nation should learn from its peasantry — and now the humble culinary traditions he was raised on have overtaken Sichuan and Cantonese cooking. China’s shift to a rustic palate from fancy food has a political parallel: It’s fascination with JD Vance and his Hillbilly Elegy. [In another column](, Shuli writes, “The Chinese-language version of JD Vance’s bestseller Hillbilly Elegy went viral after the Ohio senator was named former President Donald Trump’s running mate. People wanted to know how someone from such a humble background could rise so high in politics before turning 40.” That’s in telling contrast to the yawns that have greeted President Xi Jinping’s Third Plenum, the periodic session of the Communist Party elite that’s meant to announce policies to jumpstart the economy. It’s a top-down approach that leaves Chinese citizens with little choice about their own future. Shuli also reminds us that while China has seen a huge proportion of its population rising out of the poverty of the Mao era, some 300 million people are still mired in an enormous underclass of migrant workers. She says that tension with China’s “hillbillies” is something Xi and the Chinese elite must contend with. A Calculated $600 Million Wedding A lot’s been written about the marriage of Anant Ambani, the second son of Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in Asia (and ninth richest in the world). The celebrations started in March, months before the actual wedding took place on July 12. My colleague Lara Williams made a rough estimate that the first pre-wedding party alone had the [carbon footprint]( of four SpaceX Falcon 9 flights to the International Space Station. But Andy Mukherjee points out that there is [another set of calculations]( involved. The billionaire father of the groom, he says, wants to sustain his advantage against his closest Indian rival — Gautam Adani, who, until a short-seller attack a few months ago toppled him, was the top plutocrat of the country and the continent. Pretty soon, Adani will resume his momentum and may set his sights on Ambani’s dominance of sports and entertainment. “Now is not the time to lie low, but to exude confidence,” says Andy. Hence, the chock-full-of-celebrities nuptials. Ambani wants to be the undeniable master of Bollywood and Cricket in India. A $600 million wedding is a small price to pay to keep up appearances for an empire valued at more than a quarter of a trillion dollars. Telltale Charts “It’s time Europeans prepared for the combined effect of a trans-Atlantic shock to the system – a Trump 2.0 with extra hostility. … The Trumponomics playbook of prioritizing domestic demand at allies’ expense could be as dramatic as the 1971 Nixon shock that ditched the gold standard and hiked tariffs, reckons economist Bruno Colmant. (Nixon was unbothered by complaints abroad: ‘I don’t give a s*** about the lira.’)”— Lionel Laurent in “[Trump 2.0 Would Be a Shock to Europe’s Ailing System](.” “Brace yourself if you’re a parent because I’m about to tell you something shocking: Families pay nothing for child care in Berlin. That’s right, daycare is free for all kids from age one until they start school at six. … Universal, low-cost early-years education may seem a pipe dream to those spending more on this essential service than on rent, but it needn’t be. … Affordable care for parents benefits us all by allowing mothers to stay in the workforce, which is even more important in places affected by shrinking working-age populations, like Germany.” — Chris Bryant in “[Child Care Is Free in My City. Why Not Yours?](” Further Reading Miami, soccer and the [clash of civilizations](. — Juan Pablo Spinetto Trump’s wrong about [Taiwan’s chips](. — Tim Culpan Shorting vowels with [KKR and Abrdn](. — Chris Hughes The Silicon Valley [hillbillies](. — Parmy Olson The [barbarian style]( in PE deal-making. — Paul J. Davies Easy money mustn’t spoil [India’s budget](. — Mihir Sharma Walk of the Town: The Ghosts of Smithfield Smithfield Market at dusk. Photograph by Howard Chua-Eoan/Bloomberg I like to tell friends visiting London that I’m always surprised that any heavy downpour doesn’t cause blood to seep up from the ground. That’s especially true of the neighborhood I live in: Smithfield, which is a few minutes walk from St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is a blood-stained place by occupation: the site of London’s remaining wholesale meat market. In the early morning or late evening, you can spy the huge refrigerated trucks, their loading doors open to expose the hanging carcasses of sheep, cattle and pigs. An adjoining street still bears a utilitarian but evocative name: Cow Cross. Smithfield was also the end of the line for condemned men and women. Most famously, William Wallace — the leader of the First War of Scottish Independence (portrayed by Mel Gibson in the 1995 movie Braveheart) — was barbarically drawn and quartered in the square in 1305. A plaque in his memory hangs on a wall of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and blue banners of St. Andrew’s cross are always at hand. There were also scores, perhaps hundreds, of Protestants burned at the stake here during the 16th-century reign of Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and older half-sister of Elizabeth I. Mary had hoped to restore Roman Catholicism in England, which her father had expunged in the course of his divorce from her mother. The only public statue of the Tudor King in London overlooks the square, at an angle to the meat market. Needless to say, there is a good business of “ghost tours” in the area — mostly focused on revenants haunting the hallways of the hospital but, no doubt, also taking note of the victims of “Bloody Mary” — as the unhappy queen was nicknamed by Protestant propagandists after she died. The guided explorations of the area almost always take place at sundown or soon after. The light is quite lovely in Smithfield then, making for an appropriate, if ghoulish, cocktail hour. Drawdown It’s been grand having you along. Here’s something for you to deliberate. ”There’s too much going on in that ham sandwich. I say we vote to indict.” Illustration by Howard Chua-Eoan/Bloomberg Notes: Please send juicy judgments and judicious feedback to Howard Chua-Eoan at hchuaeoan@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. 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