Washington - Guests at US President Barack Obama's first state dinner Tuesday night in honour of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were to be treated to a meal that blended both Indian and American elements, flavoured with herbs from the White House garden. The dinner was to be held under a massive white tent on the South Lawn of the White House, with decor reflecting the Obamas' dedication to environmental sustainability and views of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Monument.
The tent walls were decorated with branches of magnolias, which are native to both India and the United States. The centrepiece bouquets were created with flowers evocative of a classic American garden - garden roses, hydrangea and sweet peas in purple, deep plum and fuchsia.
Tables seating 10 were covered in apple-green linen and finished with deep purple flower arrangements that paid homage to the peacock, the national bird of India.
White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford and guest chef Marcus Samuelsson created a largely vegetarian menu that also emphasized fresh and healthy eating, which is promoted by First Lady Michelle Obama. The Indian prime minister is vegetarian.
The menu included potato and eggplant salad with arugula grown in the White House kitchen garden; red lentil soup with fresh cheese; roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney; chickpeas and okra; green prawns curry; coconut-aged basmati rice. For dessert there was pumpkin pie tart and pear tartin, poached in honey from the White House beehive.
The menu "reflects the best of American cuisine, continues this White House's commitment to serving fresh, sustainable and regional food, and honours the culinary excellence and flavors that are present in Indian cuisine," the first lady's office said.
The guest list of more than was comprised of US politicians, prominent members of the Indian-American community, Hollywood stars and corporate leaders.
Dining with Obama, Singh and their spouses, would be Indian industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata, GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt, PepsiCo cief executive Indra Nooyi, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Pulitzer Prize- winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri, Nobel Prize awardee Amartya Sen, filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Manoj Night Shyamalan.
Other guests were Vice President Joe Biden, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and former secretary of state Colin Powell.
The White House also had an A-list entertainment lineup, with performances by Oscar winners Jennifer Hudson and Indian composer- singer AR Rahman, who created the music for Slumdog Millionaire; Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Kurt Elling from the Obamas' hometown of Chicago; and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Previous White House state dinners in honour of India were held in 2005 by president George W Bush, 2000 by Bill Clinton, 1985 and 1982 by Ronald Reagan, 1966 by Lyndon Johnson and 1963 by John F Kennedy.
The first-ever state dinner was held on December 12, 1874, by president Ulysses Grant for King David Kalakaua of Hawaii.
