Eat Like Your Candidates
We may not all be casting the same vote Tuesday, but we should be able to agree on one thing: Event TV and good eats make as good a pair as chocolate and peanut butter. Even if you didn’t grow up like me, posting countdowns on the fridge to the “family picnic in the TV room” (aka Super Bowl Sunday).
That’s why I tracked down some info on the Presidential candidates’ favorite food. Many of you have told me you are attending election night parties and rallies Tuesday – official and unofficial. Why not plan ahead and eat like your candidate while watching the coverage?
Republican presidential candidate John McCain once told the Associated Press, "I eat almost everything. Sometimes I don’t do too well with vegetables," according to a September article in The Boston Globe.
According to the Website Eatingwell.com, McCain has said he favors baby back ribs, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama likes comfort food.
The site suggests healthy versions of the candidates’ fave meals. It also cites reports that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin’s favorite food is moose stew and Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden usually opts for Italian. Biden often orders penne with tomato sauce and basil at Toscana Kitchen + Bar in Wilmington, Delaware, according to the site.
The Boston Globe article noted that Obama doesn’t like sweets, but he is a fan of the Mexican food at Chicago’s Topolobampo. Obama apparently likes five-course tasting menu there and usually orders one house margarita with salt.
The restaurant’s chef, Rick Bayless, told NPR how to make some of the restaurant’s faves in a feature last month. Check it out here.
What are your election night TV dinner plans?
Related: B&C’s Election 08 coverage
BE A SUPER FLY CORRESPONDENT, tip us off to where the TV biz eats – industry bigwigs, talent, anybody working in TV in your town – with a note to tellmelsdiner@reedbusiness.com. Mel’s Diner Fly on the Wall tips will remain anonymous if you choose.
Melissa Grego commented:
Just got a note from my B&C colleague Alex Weprin, attending a gathering Comedy Central watching the election and their coverage. Says Alex: There are two buffets, labeled by Comedy Central the un-American and pro-American. The un has 150k makeover steak, elitist mixed greens, socialist salmon, old world rigatoni and imported veggies. The pro has small town patriotic chicken strips, red state burgers, blue state pizza, lone star quesedillas, Joe the Plumbers good ole mac n cheese and freedom fries.
PAIGE ALBINIAK commented:
I love Urth myself! Had I thought of it, I would have cooked up some of Bayless' recipes for tonight, but oh well, it's not my party.
Anonymous commented:
Obama must play a lot of basketball to keep in that shape with a diet of comfort food and five courses of Mexican. :)
And of course Palin likes moose stew.
Melissa Grego commented:
Sounds like fun, Paige. I bet you are right -- the pizza places across the country best be staffed up today.
I had coffee yesterday (er, tea actually, as Urth Cafe in BH is probably a little like Boulder) with an Obama supporter who said she was looking forward to elaborate taco plans with her boyfriend and friends tonight. She was pleasantly surprised to find she was so in line with her candidate.
PAIGE ALBINIAK commented:
We're all headed to a friend's house in Boulder where we're ordering pizza and then bringing stuff to share. I think the pizza places will make a killing tonight! Of course, in Boulder everyone is a vegan or a vegetarian or living gluten-free or some such thing, so we're ordering a bizarre array of pizzas. I'm also hoping to unload all my leftover Halloween candy and the cookies I made over the weekend on my unsuspecting friends. I'm also hoping that the night goes well -- NOT like 2000 -- so I don't end up with a rough case of heartburn.