President Bush and other leaders from the world’s eight most powerful countries yesterday met in Japan to discuss ways in which to address the global food crisis.

Then, they and their spouses enjoyed an 18 course meal.

Themed “Hokkaido: Blessings of the Earth and Sea,” the elegant affair prepared by renowned chef Katsuhiro Nakamura boasted the following menu:

• Corn and caviar
• Smoked salmon and sea urchin
• Hot onion tart
• Winter lily bulb and summer savoury
• Kelp-flavoured beef and asparagus
• Diced tuna, avocado and soy sauce jelly, and herbs
• Boiled clam, tomato, shiso in jellied clam soup
• Water shield and pink conger with soy sauce vinegar
• Boiled prawn with tosazu vinegar jelly
• Grilled eel and burdock
• Fried goby fish with soy sauce and sugar
• Hairy crab bisque soup
• Grilled bighand thornyhead fish with pepper sauce
• Milk-fed lamb flavoured with herbs and mustard, and roast lamb with cepes and black truffle
• Cheese, lavender honey and carmelised nuts
• G8 ‘Fantasy’ dessert
• Coffee and candied fruits and vegetables

That’s to say nothing of the earlier “Working Lunch,” which included:

• White asparagus and truffle soup
• Chaud-froid of Kegani crab
• Almond oil foam and tapenade
• Supreme of chicken, with stuffed thigh, nuts and orange savoury and beetroot foam
• Cheese selection
• Peach compote, ice cream, and rasberry coulis
• Coffee and petits fours

And that’s not to say anything of the wines and champagnes - flown in directly from Europe and the United States. That list included:

• Chateau Grillet 2005
• Chambolle-Musigny 2005
• Le Reve Grand Cru Brut/La Seule Gloire Champagne
• Sake/Isojiman Shuzo Shizuoka
• Corton Charlemagne 2005/Louis Latour Bourgogne
• Ridge California Monte Bello 1997
•  Takaji Esszencia 1999

“It is deeply hypocritical that they should be lavishing course after course on world leaders when there is a food crisis and millions cannot afford a decent meal,” said Dominic Nutt, an employee of charity Save the Children.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in attendance at the G8 meeting, was quoted as recently as Sunday by the Daily Mail as saying it was vital to reduce the “unnecessary demand” for food. As the Daily Mail reported, last night’s dinner was served “at the Windsor Hotel, on the shores of Lake Toya, where the presidential suite costs 7,000 pounds [roughly $13,790 U.S.].”