Western Chefs Learn What’s Cooking in the Orient

--It was a sight that held a tincture of revenge for all those diners who have ever been intimidated by the haughty air of a gourmet restaurant: bewildered world-class chefs chasing Chinese food around their plates and puzzling over the contents of small translucent pastries. “What is this? How do I eat it?” Paul Charleux, head chef to Prince Rainier of Monaco, asked as he tentatively probed a diced mixture with one chopstick. From across the table came a plaintive request from Ronny Leenaert, the chef for the royal family of Belgium. “What about this?” he asked as he fingered a rolled pastry. “Can I pick it up in my fingers?” All around the room, the great chefs were obediently taking advice from the Chinese waiters on which sauce to put on their dumplings and what to dump in their congee --a rice porridge. The occasion was a dim sum breakfast for the members of the exclusive Club des Chefs des Chefs, which is holding its annual meeting in Hong Kong. Also in attendance was Henry Haller, who has cooked for every U.S. President since Lyndon B. Johnson. When asked about President Reagan’s eating habits, Haller replied that Reagan liked simple food. “He asked me: ‘How about a hamburger once in a while?’ and he might eat macaroni and cheese now and then,” Haller said.

--No picture of Fidel Castro seemed complete without a prominently displayed Havana cigar, but now the Cuban leader says he has not touched tobacco for a year--and feels much healthier for it. “I haven’t taken a puff since last Aug. 26,” Castro said during a televised ceremony to open a children’s hospital. “I don’t miss it and I feel better.” Castro, who turned 60 two weeks ago, said previously that he was giving up smoking as an example to others. He said he now has the moral authority to talk about the hazards of smoking and to advise others to drop the habit. “There are going to be many women who fight with their husbands,” Castro said, “because it is proven scientifically that smokers not only kill themselves sooner but also damage their children and unborn children still in the womb.”

--A Minnesota law student shot in the foot when sitting at a cafe during his first visit to New York City says he’ll keep the bullet-pierced shoe as a souvenir. “I was sitting there at a glass porch with my friends and we got our menus--and bang. I gasped,” said William Sherry, 27. Sherry said police returned his right shoe and “it’s got a nice hole in the back for a souvenir.” Sherry said he won’t be able to participate in a marathon in his home state on Oct. 12. “I’ve been training, and now I’ve got a bullet in my foot,” he said.