White House faced with 'etiquette challenge' as Indian Prime Minister visits the U.S. while fasting

[GBCW 397]

During his visit to the U.S., Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has plans for a private dinner with President Barack Obama and lunch with Vice President Joe Biden. There's one complication. He won't be eating.

Mr. Modi arrives Friday in the middle of a strict nine-day religious fast, raising a delicate question for the White House: How do you host a dinner for a foreign leader who is forgoing food?

...

Walter Scheib, a former longtime White House executive chef ... said he couldn't recall a similar situation.

Every leader "has different concerns, from the prosaic, such as I don't eat garlic, to this one—I don't eat," Mr. Scheib said. While he noted that the White House is adroit when it comes to etiquette, the arrangement at dinner has the potential to be slightly awkward. "It's very bad form to sit in front of fasting guests and eat heartily," he said. "It's just not polite."

...
During the nine days of Navratri, a Hindu festival, the menu for the prime minister consists only of water and perhaps a bit of lime water.

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The prime minister has been observing the fast for 40 years.

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In 2012, Mr. Modi wrote about Navratri and described the fast as "a source of strength, power and inspiration." He added that it's "never to seek anything but an act of self-purification."

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Pamela Eyring, president and owner of the Protocol School of Washington, said Mr. Modi's hosts should perhaps limit their own consumption. Many officials bond over breaking bread together, but in this case, Mr. Obama will need to make adjustments.

"Food is the safest small talk topic of all time," Ms. Eyring said. "During fasting, it might not be a topic you want to stay on very long."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/modi-is-coming-to-white-house-for-dinnerbut-no-food-please-1411681946

[Curmudgeon 227]

If it's a private fast I would have thought the prime minister is well capable of coping with other people eating around him. If not, then just don't have a dinner in his honor.

[sandinista! 1,816]

Agreed. I would think it's a worse display of manners to fret over Modi, or assume that even after forty years of fasting he's a delicate little flower who will just wilt from people eating in front of him or talking about food in front of him. I bet he gets that life goes on for others who aren't observing his religious beliefs.

[eieio 1,594]

Pamela Eyring, president and owner of the Protocol School of Washington, said Mr. Modi's hosts should perhaps limit their own consumption. Many officials bond over breaking bread together, but in this case, Mr. Obama will need to make adjustments.

We need a new president at the Protocol School of Washington. Obama doesn't need to do anything different.