Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was filmed enjoying a mountain of steaks from celebrity chef Salt Bae while millions of people in his country starve.

Salt Bae, otherwise known as Nusret Gokce, shared videos of the South American president puffing on cigars during the encounter at his restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Instagram icon later deleted the posts following a furious reaction from Venezuelans currently gripped by an economic crisis and a nationwide inflation that’s set to hit 1,000,000% by the end of the year.

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Red meat is all but a luxury for most Venezuelans who have to pay 14,600,000 bolivars for a small chicken.




Salt Bae is known for his theatrical style of sprinkling salt down his arm, and he even got Maduro to copy his signature move as he gave him a souvenir t-shirt.

In one video, Maduro tells fellow diners, ‘This is a once in a lifetime moment,’ as Salt Bae goes about slicing steak in a plunge v-neck t-shirt.

Maduro confirmed the visit in a state broadcast later on Monday, while Salt Bae has not responded to comment.

Maduro’s political opponents jumped on the meal as evidence of his disconnect from the country’s crisis, which has caused over two million people to flee to neighbouring countries to escape widespread shortages of food and medicine.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro wears a ‘Salt Bae’ t-shirt next to the Instagram star (Picture: CEN/Instagram)

Salt Bae goes about preparing the mountain of meat (Picture: CEN/Instagram)

Almost two-thirds of Venezuelans surveyed in a university study said they had lost an average of 11 kilograms in weight last year.

Eighty-seven percent were assessed as living in poverty.

‘While Venezuelans suffer and die of hunger, Nicolas Maduro and Cilia [his wife] enjoy one of the priciest restaurants in the world, all with money stolen from the Venezuelan people,’ tweeted opposition leader Julio Borges, the former head of Congress.

On social media, Venezuelans shared mocked-up images showing Salt Bae doing his trade-mark salt sprinkle pose above a skeletal child.

Maduro said he visited the restaurant for lunch during a two-hour stop in Istanbul.

Nicolas Maduro and Salt Bae share a hug at his restaurant (Picture: CEN/Instagram)

‘Nusret attended to us personally. We were chatting, having a good time with him…He loves Venezuela, he told me several times,’ Maduro said.

Maduro had travelled to Beijing in the hope of securing fresh funds for his cash-starved socialist government, though he returned having only signed a few deals concerning Venezuela’s energy sector.

Salt Bae went viral in 2017 after posting videos of himself salting meat with a cobra-like manoeuvre.

He has over 15 million Instagram followers and has helped launch Nusr-Et restaurants, which charge hundreds of pounds for some cuts of meat in the Middle East, New York and Miami.

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