A top Communist Party leader from Vietnam was in London last week visiting the grave of Karl Marx, the philosopher whose writing championed the proletariat fight to topple the ruling moneyed class.
While there, the official, Gen. To Lam, also ate steak covered in 24-karat gold flakes at a restaurant run by the social media star and restaurateur known as Salt Bae, according to a video that the chef posted online but that swiftly disappeared.
Many details of the meal were unavailable, including who else was in attendance, what the total cost was and who ultimately paid for it all.
But the short-lived video of it incited anger in Vietnam, where it appeared to undermine the egalitarian image the Communist Party has studiously cultivated.
The video also put Facebook, the social media platform that often faces pressure from the Vietnamese government to censor content, under another unwelcome spotlight. The widely used hashtag for the chef — #saltbae — was temporarily blocked on Facebook.
Meta, the newly renamed parent company of Facebook, said in a statement that the #saltbae hashtag was unblocked Tuesday and that it was investigating why it had been blocked.
What is known about the meal largely comes from Salt Bae's video, which was taken down from the chef's TikTok account, followed by nearly 11 million. It provided an unwelcome image in Vietnam, at a time when the pandemic has strained so many people.
"It paints a sharp contrast about the disparity in living standards in Vietnamese society," said Chinh Duong, an architect in Hanoi and a political commentator. "Especially during the recent epidemic, when the budget is exhausted and the working people are struggling for survival — such a lavish party of officials is offensive."
