Gourmet Fare on the Campaign Trail

We are pleased to report that US politicians vying for their parties' nomination in the 2016 presidential election are holding to the high gourmet standard set by Richard Nixon, whose signature dish at the White House was cottage cheese with ketchup.

Campaigning at the Iowa State fair this past weekend, Jeb Bush knocked back a beer with his deep-fried Snickers, while Hillary Clinton went for pork chop on a stick, and, in a recent video, Ted Cruz cooked bacon on the barrel of a machine gun.

This is in the haute cuisine tradition of Ronald Reagan, who kept a jar of jelly beans on the Oval Office desk; Jimmy Carter, who sang "Salt Peanuts" with Dizzy Gillespie; Barry Goldwater, who once used peanut butter for shaving cream; LBJ, famous for his Pedernales River Chili (Lady Bird's recipe available on-line); and Bill Clinton, who never passed a McDonald's without wanting to declare it a National Heritage Site.

Aides traveling with the candidates are carrying emergency rolls of TUMS.