Xi’s Iowa Dinner Serves Porkfest With Side of Dietary Nightmare

The “Taste of Iowa” menu for Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s dinner in Des Moines tonight isn’t going down well with nutritionists. They say bacon-lettuce-and-tomato bites and potatoes stuffed with white cheddar are dietary perils high in calories, sodium and saturated fat.

“It’s a celebration of Iowa foods, but this menu is over the top in terms of calories and the amount of food,” Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, said in an interview. “There’s very little chance you’re going to walk out without eating all your day’s calories in one meal.”