What does our new President eat?

"I don't drink. I don't smoke. But I eat a lot of ice cream." -- Joe Biden, 2016.

For very good reason, most of what we read about President Biden is substantive information about his policies, his executive orders, and his appointments to cabinet and sub-cabinet posts. And it's all highly encouraging and wonderful, and it's the most important thing going on right now. I'm especially pleased because several executive orders have addressed key issues about hunger relief and food safety, as I wrote earlier.

But my hobby is to look at what famous people like President Biden eat. Therefore, I've read a few articles on this topic, mostly from several months ago during the campaign. I'm summarizing what I learned; I have also made some screen shots that illustrate our new President's food preferences.

-- Food and Wine Magazine

President Biden has very American tastes in food. Because he continued to live in Delaware while serving in the Senate from 1972 until becoming VP in 2009, he spent a lot of time on the commuter train to DC. Thus he didn't have as much time for eating out as some politicians do. 

Biden has several favorite restaurants in Wilmington, where he has lived for most of his life. From Food and Wine Magazine we learn that Biden is...

"A regular Joe with a simple palate. His order is chicken parmigiana at Café Verdi, an unassuming pizza joint in Trolley Square. At the hand-rolled pasta joint Piccolina Toscana, chef-owner Dan Butler told me, 'It’s cappellini al pomodoro. If he’s feeling racy, it’s penne al pomodoro. I’d rather he eat more adventurously, but he’s always effusive about how good the meal is, so I can’t complain.'"

Biden at DQ

Interviewed about Biden, former President Obama mentioned two Biden favorites, saying that for his former VP: "Ice cream is big. Pasta with red sauce, he can go deep on that." (Quoted in a tweet from The Hill.) According to the Washington Post, Biden also likes peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and his wife's homemade chicken Parmesan and chicken tenders. In their pantry they keep healthy foods like "apples, red grapes, both Diet Coke and Coke Zero ..., Special K cereal and low-fat yogurt." (source)

Biden was reported to have spent $10,000 on ice cream for a campaign event, where it was given as gifts to supporters. His favorite brand of ice cream is Jeni's, and he once mentioned particularly the flavor Salted Peanut Butter with Chocolate Flecks. He seems to also like Dairy Queen, Häagen-Dazs, and probably others. (source)

As for the pasta -- Jill Biden's home cooking includes several Italian-American specialties that she learned from her family. She "grew up eating pasta with red sauce, braciole and Italian bread at her grandparents’ house, a family tradition full of recipes that will likely continue when America's first Italian-American first lady moves into the White House." (source)

Also in the news -- the Biden family take-out order for their first Sunday in the White House. The order included: “Three sesame bagels with cream cheese — one with tomato and one with jalapeño — and a plain bagel with butter.” After the Presidential motorcade stopped to pick up the bagels, the Georgetown bagel shop that the Bidens had patronized received an unusually large number of orders. "The expectation is that the new administration will continue to frequent local restaurants and other businesses." (source)

No Red Button!

When it comes to food and drink, though, the most commented act of the new President was removing the notorious Red Button that has been in the Oval Office for a number of administrations, but which his predecessor (he-who-must-not-be-named) would push to summon a liveried waiter with a silver tray on which was a glass of ice-cold Diet Coke. Thus would his predecessor stoke his own unspeakable and ever-expanding ego, intending to impress anyone that was fawningly in the Oval Office with him. 

Biden drinks both coffee and occasionally Diet Coke or Coke Zero, but he doesn't have to show off about it. What a great thing to have a modest man for President!

For a complete exploration of the topic of the previous occupant's Oval Office Diet Coke button see: "T____'s Diet Coke button is a reminder of the most laughable, hypocritical parts of his presidency" by Ashlie D. Stevens in Salon.com.

This blog post © 2021 mae sander; photos as credited

This post shared with Elizabeth's weekly blog event about a variety of drinks.