Extreme Mortman is extremely thrilled to present the first installment of our new special feature –  a regular chronicle of the intersection of food and politics.  To handle this daunting and tasty challenge, we enlisted the nation’s leading expert in both: Vic Matus, Weekly Standard assistant managing editor and blogger for Galley Slaves by day, Extreme Mortman culinary correspondent by night.  Here’s Vic’s first report:

When the Hudson Institute announced they would be cohosting (with the Hanns Seidel Foundation) two Bavarian members of the Bundestag, I pictured a catered lunch of echt Bavarian specialties: Weisswurst with sweet mustard, pretzels, Black Forest cake, and, natürlich, liters of Hofbräu and Spaten. Alas, this was not to be.
 
“I know, I know, we should have had spätzle and bratwurst,” joked Kenneth Weinstein, Hudson’s most amiable CEO. Instead, the venerable think tank opted for chef Vered Guttman’s “Mediterranean Cooking,” which provided a middling parsnip couscous (it’s the thought that counts, considering the topics included Iran and Iraq), grilled chicken breasts, mixed greens drizzled in a lemon vinaigrette, and a mango-berry fruit salad. But the triumph of this lunch, far and away, was the blackened salmon, tender to the touch with a flaky texture and dark orange center–no easy thing to cook right (and all too easy to overcook).
 
“I liked the salmon best,” said Joel Shin of the Scowcroft Group. “[Hudson] has got to have some of the best food among the think tanks in Washington,” added Charles Horner, who comes here almost every day (probably because he’s also a Hudson senior fellow). Still, one plate belonging to a high-ranking German diplomat was wiped so clean they didn’t have to wash it (but I’m pretty sure they did).
 
The guests were Peter Ramsauer, who heads the Christian Social Union’s parliamentary fraction in the Bundestag, and fellow CSU member and foreign policy expert Karl-Theodor von und zu Guttenberg. The theme of the luncheon was the future of Germany’s foreign policy. The discussion, however, was off the record. But let’s just say there are shared concerns over Iran, some differences on Turkey’s joining the E.U., and no consensus on how far the European Union will expand. A Democratic staffer went so far as to ask about the Ukraine and Georgia’s prospects for membership. Georgia? What about Alabama and Mississippi? Where does it end indeed!
 
On my way out the door, I was compelled to stopped in the kitchen for a slice of orange cake that had somehow eluded me. The orange zest was perfectly infused and the overall experience was, well, orangy. And moist. It had been some months since I attended a Hudson event and was delighted to find this one well-catered. My only advice to this think tank is to refrain from using silverware. Policy wonks are notorious for stealing cutlery for personal use–such as making shivs.