Bush 'no gourmet' (prefers burgers to salads)

[sabra]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1929518,00.html

Bush 'no gourmet'

<snip>

Walter Scheib, 52, who cooked at the White House for 11 years under the Clintons and the Bushes, charges $250 to $300 per head - plus the cost of food and wine - for the honour of making and serving the White House fare and spreading White House lore outside the famous presidential home.

...

But he does allow himself a chance to poke some fun. Pulling down one corner of his mouth to imitate the way President George W Bush speaks, Scheib says, "Cookie, what's cooking?" sounding a lot like the most powerful man in the world. "Cookie" - a common pet name for a cook - is what Bush liked to call Scheib, who said Bush would walk through the kitchen sweating after a midday workout and peek into the pots.

It's well known that Bush is not exactly a gourmet. He generally likes a hearty meal, like his predecessor, Bill Clinton, who has been singing the praises of vegetables and salads only since his post- presidential heart bypass operation.

...

"Burger or sandwich, please," is what he would say. When Laura was away travelling, an order quickly arrived from the inner sanctums of the White House to change the menu.

"Then there was chili and nachos instead of salmon on arugula," said Scheib with a knowing smirk.

[bdamomma]

1. maybe bush will clogged arteries.

[callous taoboy]

6. Or perhaps he could eat at Burger King on a day

when the burgers are bright pink on the inside.

[Cha]

11. he's not looking

very healthy ..in fact he looks like shite.

[napi21]

2. Well, that's one thing I can't hold against Shrub.

I'm not a salad person either, although salmon on arugula sounds really good! That's not the kind of salads I usually have offered! It might kill me some day too, butI'll take a great rib eye steak sandwih over a salad anyday!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. He's a fine example of what Mad Cow can do.

[0007]

5. Ah yes, meat from the most psychoneurotic cows around. The best.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

4. Finally,a job he can handle!

Changing the menu at the White House. Seriously I think it points to *'s lack of curiosity. He is known to not read books, or do much introspective thinking. It follows then that food different from he knows would be suspect and avoided as soon as he has a chance to do so.

[jukes]

8. NO! he's just

a "man of the people"; a manly-man who likes his steak red & his bacon black.


i get really tired of his "folksy" bullshit.

[tanyev]

7. Ah, gee, what a regular guy. Makes me want to have a beer with him.

(not)

[Roon]

9. It cracks me up, Bush works out every day

but his bodyfat is still pretty high! He needs to check his diet. Working out and not watching your diet is just spinning your wheels in the mud. What a moran.

[shadowknows69]

10. Then he's a bigger idiot than I thought

what good is having all that money if you're not going to eat exceptionally well.

[mondo joe]

12. "Salad" is now a gourmet dish?

For fuck's sake...

[sabra]

14. I guess anything compared to nachos is gourmet? :-)

[emulatorloo]

15. Per Karl Rove and Karen Hughes Bush PR Dictionary, I guess EOM

[FloridaPat]

13. Mad cow disease could explain his speech & mental deterioration the

last 5 years. Also the boozing.

[lavenderdiva]

16. gross.

...Bush would walk through the kitchen sweating after a midday workout and peek into the pots.


okay, that's gross. did he drip into them? yuck. I think I lost my appetite for lunch.

[Lisa]

18. my officemate's married to a professional chef ...

And she does not take kindly to people wandering into her kitchen -- let alone if they're dirty and sweaty! She would take a wooden spoon or tenderizing mallet to him.

I wonder how many times Georgie's interference caused a cake or souffle to fall?

[Skidmore]

17. Chili, eh. 'Splains why he always walks like he's trying to

hold a fart in.

[LibDemAlways]

19. "Cookie?" He calls the chef "Cookie?"

I know the moron likes to tag people with nicknames while he insists on "Mr. President," but "Cookie" is just plain insulting for a professional chef on the WH payroll. Sounds to me like Scheib's good-natured digs, as described in the article, are thinly disguised expressions of disgust.

[Lisa]

20. "peek into the pots" -- was he looking for "calf fries" (bull testicles)?

Apparently he's inordinately fond of them.


"According to Grady Spears, Texas chef and author of "A Cowboy in the Kitchen," the president-elect is loco for bull nuts. The Texas specialty, known by the mercifully euphemistic name of "calf-fries," is nothing more and nothing less than a mess of deep-fried bull testes. Chef Spears, who served the dish often for Mr. and Mrs. Bush when the former was governor of Texas, told Wireless Newsflash, "The plates came back pretty empty.""

http://archive.salon.com/people/feature/2001/01/11/cheapshots0110/index.html



Anyone else notice that his stomach seems to be about the only thing that stimulates his curiosity?

"Perhaps more disturbing, Bruni also paints a man who is astonishingly shallow and unreflective. Riffing after the election about his upcoming presidency, Bush can't get beyond his genuine fascination with the White House mess hall: "The dessert menu is unbelievable ... esterday at the Blair House we had this, I'm not even sure, coffee ice cream surrounded by this unbelievable meringue, beautiful meringue." And Bruni informs us that well into his first year in office Bush is "still raving about ... little red button in the private dining room off the Oval Office that he could use to summon the butler." It's Bush as the Tom Hanks character in "Big.""



http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2002/03/04/bruni/print.html