There are two things you are not allowed to call Michelle Obama. One is “angry black woman”. The other is “generous host”, at least when the guests for the White House’s “kids’ state dinner” (well, lunch, actually) are concerned:
The menu: Kale Chips from the New York winner were placed on each table ahead of the appetizer, which was Quinoa Black Bean and Corn Salad from the Arizona winner. The entree was “Yummy Cabbage Sloppy Joes” from the Kansas winner, accompanied by Baked Zucchini Fries from the North Carolina winner. Dessert was two recipes: A Strawberryana Smoothie from the Hawaii winner; and a “Summer Fruit Garland” from the South Dakota winner, which was chunks of fruit on a wooden skewer.
I’m sure it was lovely. Really. But even the Three Little Pricks, with their very sophisticated tastes, would have turned their noses up at this condescending nonsense. Forgetting the First Lady’s own Clintonesque fondness for junk food, this is sending all the wrong messages to kids. For one thing, where’s the beef? Or any other sort of animal protein? Yes, there was something called “Scrumptious Salmon Salad” on offer, but that sounds like the latest offering from Whiskas.
For another, “baked zucchini fries” is a tri-partite oxymoron.
But the most annoying bit is how the old lefty doctrine that the personal is political has invaded even lunch. It’s as if the whole menu were run through a propaganda office to ensure everything was not just “healthy” but also not seen to be counter-revolutionary. Quinoa good, wagyu bad perhaps? The commies of old used to talk about breaking eggs to make omelettes, even if they never delivered any. Under the new regime, omlettes are strictly verboten.
Just as with the whole kerfuffle about the wine list at grown-up state dinners, it’s all about the triumph of power and politics over taste.
It’s enough to make one miss the Kennedys.
Prick With A Fork 
‘“Scrumptious Salmon Salad” on offer, but that sounds like the latest offering from Whiskas.’
Ha! It so does.
Apparently JFK was not much of a gourmet, preferring politics over food. However, his inaugural lunch sounds OK:
‘After delivering his address, Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline were escorted to the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the U.S. Capitol for the traditional inaugural luncheon. According to Senate historians, the menu items included cream of tomato soup with crushed popcorn; deviled crab meat imperial; New England boiled stuffed lobster with drawn butter; prime Texas ribs of beef au jus; string beans amandine and broiled tomatoes with grapefruit and avocado sections with poppyseed dressing.”
http://lincolnslunch.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/john-f-kennedys-inaugural-luncheon_4420.html
You’d have to feel sorry for those kids at Mrs Obama’s lunch, not even a hot dog on offer, and the food they got sounds so ordinary and unappetizing.
The history chef (see link above) also has an interesting list of some food related information on the various presidents (in the side bar). Ulysses Grant knew how to have a party, but looks like he was a victim of the Gore effect:
“The menu for Ulysses S. Grant’s second inaugural ball reflects the opulence of the Gilded Age. A New York Times article dated March 5, 1873, contains a mind-boggling list of dishes served. Among other provisions were 10,000 fried oysters; 63 boned turkeys; 150 capons stuffed with truffles; 15 saddles of mutton; 200 dozen quails; 200 hams; 250 chickens; 400 partridges; 25 stuffed boar’s heads; 3,000 head cheese sandwiches; 2,000 ham sandwiches; 8,000 pickled oysters and 2,000 pounds of lobster. But the best laid plans can go awry, even for a president. The weather that evening was freezing and the temporary ballroom had no heat. Guests danced in their hats and overcoats, the food was cold, they ran out of coffee, and, worst of all, most of the decorative caged canaries (which were supposed to be sweetly singing) froze.”
The meals First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt presided over were famously horrible, combining the fashionable scientific dietary requirements at the time with the necessity for economic austerity.
The political may have been very personal in her case, since that linked article talks about the ongoing affair that FJR had with a staffer, and the effect on the Roosevelt’s marriage.
Us right-wingers might be evil and all that, but at least we eat better.
The reason the Left are running (ruining) the world is that conservatives are too stupid to stop them. They think that because the Left support workers (actually, pretend to support workers) conservatives must therefore brutalise the workers; because the Left don’t like fox hunting conservatives must therefore torture foxes to death; because commies hate religion conservatives should therefore support religion; and, because some leftist pansies are vegetarian conservatives should therefore subject animals to horrific acts of cruelty.
What hope is there. The Left are running the show and they are laughing their heads off at how stupid conservatives are.
If they can’t even serve Ortolan to kids, how will they ever have the stomach to invade Iran?
My kids would’ve been apoplectic if there were even a hint of them on the menu….
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