Hold the onion: chefs try to keep APEC's breath fresh

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Chefs preparing the menu for U.S. President Barack Obama and other Asia-Pacific leaders meeting this week have been told to cut back on the garlic and onion to ensure the talks are not an olfactory challenge.

Executive Chef Jess Ong, charged with feeding the 10,000 delegates at the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Singapore, told the Today newspaper that menus will consist of healthier, less pungent versions of signature local dishes such as spicy chicken soup and chilli crab.

Dishes will also have less salt and less sugar, Ong said. Breath mints are also readily available, the daily added.

Ong's menus will include modern twists on Singaporean classics such as spicy chicken soup with scallop mousse, fiery Rendang baked lobster, braised beef ribs in five-spice sauce and a cold appetiser of chilli crab with mango salsa.

The APEC member economies are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, the United States and Vietnam.

(Reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Miral Fahmy)