As Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump prepare for the White House showdown in November, their choice of running mate has been attracting attention recently.
Ms. Harris on Tuesday picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, less than a month after President Trump picked Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as the Republican nominee.
Despite their political differences, Vance and Walz seem to have something in common: They both like Diet Mountain Dew.
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“I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and I had a Diet Mountain Dew today and I’m sure they’ll say that’s racist,” Vance, 40, said of Democrats at a rally in Virginia in July.
“But it’s okay.”
On the left, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz are both said to drink Diet Mountain Dew. (Drew Hallowell, Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
As has been widely reported, Waltz, 60, switched from alcohol to diet soft drinks after failing a breathalyzer test and being convicted of reckless driving in 1995.
Breakfast Cereal and Gumbo
Meanwhile, Harris seems to enjoy cereal for breakfast.
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She told The Cut in 2018 that she likes to have a cup of raisin bran and almond milk in the morning.
Harris also enjoys gumbo, he said in an interview posted to his YouTube page last year.
Trump has long been a fan of fried chicken, while Harris shared her “love” for gumbo in the interview. (iStock)
“I love gumbo,” she said in the video.
Ice cream and ice cream
President Joe Biden, 81, who paved the way for Harris by announcing he would not seek reelection, is no secret about his love of chocolate chip ice cream.
President Biden enjoys a chocolate chip ice cream cone in Cleveland in May 2021. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)
But what have other White House residents claimed to be their favorite foods so far?
Here are a few:
Fast food and soft drinks
Trump is known for his penchant for fast food, and famously served burgers from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King along with pizza when the Clemson University football team visited the White House in 2019.
Former President Trump is said to like fried chicken (see inset), while Vice President Kamala Harris has said she loves gumbo. (Reuters, iStock, NRA)
During the 2016 campaign, Trump took to social media to share a photo of himself eating a bucket of fried chicken from KFC.
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He also liked to drink Diet Coke, according to several former staffers.
Then-President Donald Trump presents the Clemson University Tigers football team with fast food at the White House in 2019. (Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)
Do I need broccoli or not?
Reuters reported in 2013 that former President Barack Obama claimed broccoli was one of his favorite foods, but he wouldn’t turn down a burger.
While in office in 2009, Obama visited a now-closed Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington, Virginia, and ordered a medium-well cheddar cheeseburger with spicy mustard, lettuce, and tomato.
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However, unlike President Obama, former President George H.W. Bush did not like broccoli and famously disparaged the vegetable during a press conference in March 1990.
“I don’t like broccoli. I’ve hated it ever since I was a kid and my mom used to make me eat it,” he declared at the time.
Former President George H.W. Bush hated broccoli, but former President Barack Obama said it was his favorite food. (Ron Sachs Pool/Getty Images, iStock, Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
“I’m the president of the United States. I don’t eat broccoli anymore.”
Bush’s disdain for broccoli later became a campaign slogan for the wives of President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
A photograph of Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore during the 1992 campaign shows Clinton holding a piece of broccoli next to a sign that read, “Let’s put broccoli in the White House again!”
It was a perfect fit with her husband’s current vegan diet: Former President Bill Clinton ate meat in the White House, but stopped eating meat, fish and dairy after emergency surgery in 2010, according to multiple media outlets.
Former President Bill Clinton, who appears to be a committed vegan these days but ate meat while in the White House, is pictured here campaigning in a Georgia produce section with vice presidential candidate Al Gore and his wife Tipper Gore (right) and Hillary Clinton (third from the right). (Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images)
Broccoli didn’t seem to bother the son of the 41st President of the United States, Mr Bush.
“It’s OK. I don’t find it as disgusting as my dad does. If I really want to eat it, I like the tops of broccoli,” former President George W. Bush said in 2004.
The late White House chef Walter Scheib once said that huevos rancheros were a Sunday morning favorite for former President Bush.
Jelly beans, chowder, Texas okra
Former President Ronald Reagan kept a jar of jelly beans on his desk or table in the Oval Office during Cabinet meetings in the 1980s.
During President Ronald Reagan’s two terms in the White House, a jar of jelly beans was often kept near the president. (iStock, Diana Walker/Getty Images)
Before his assassination in 1963, former President John F. Kennedy had a penchant for creamy New England fish chowder, according to Rene Verdon, White House chef to Kennedy and later to President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Johnson, who served as Kennedy’s vice president and became commander in chief after JFK’s death, detailed his love of vegetables in “The White House Family Cookbook,” first published in 1987.
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The book was written by Henry Haller, the White House’s longest-serving presidential chef, and it identifies some of Johnson’s favorite foods, including okra from his Texas ranch and spinach, which he often tossed into a light soufflé.
Johnson also had a habit of eating bacon in bed with his wife, Lady Bird Johnson.
Haller writes that Johnson had a habit of eating bacon in bed with his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, and at a party he hosted on the White House lawn after announcing he would not seek reelection in 1968, he demanded that guests be served barbecued ribs.
Steak for lunch and dinner
According to former White House chief housekeeper Elizabeth Jaffray, William Howard Taft, who served as the 27th president from 1909 to 1913, enjoyed steak for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
In his book “White House Secrets,” Jaffray writes that Taft ate 12-ounce steaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.
Former President William Howard Taft enjoyed steak for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (iStock, MPI/Getty Images)
But he never had eggs with his steak, the book says.
“President Taft liked all kinds of food except eggs,” Jaffray writes.
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Eventually, Jaffray claimed, a fat Taft ordered the size of the steaks reduced from 12 ounces to six ounces.
Chicken Dinner
Former President Abraham Lincoln enjoyed corned beef and cornbread, while First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln said her husband’s favorite food was chicken fricassee.
It is said that President Abraham Lincoln’s favorite food was chicken fricassee. (iStock, StockMontage/Getty Images)
Not only that, Lincoln also loved to cook, according to Ray Catherine Amy, author of “Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary Look at the Life and Times of Lincoln.”
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The book includes grocery bill ledgers from Lincoln’s Illinois days before he took office and details how he converted his backyard grill into a cast-iron stove.
