Beets are the new broccoli

[KamaAina]

Obama can't stand 'em. Good thing the repuke oppo researchers didn't get hold of this. It could have cost us some crucial EVs in the Beet Belt! :-) Where is the Beet Belt, anyway? :shrug:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_campaignplus/first_family_food#full

Former President George H.W. Bush famously disliked broccoli. His son, the outgoing president, is a Texas meat-eater. President-elect Barack Obama loves chili and shuns beets.

Obama's aversion to beets aside — "I always avoid eating them," he says — the new first family are foodies with a wide-ranging palate. They have hankerings for Mexican food, enjoy hand-crafted pastas and their kids dig fried chicken and macaroni and cheese.

"They are totally adventurous people ... they enjoy food," said chef Rick Bayless of Topolobampo, an upscale contemporary Mexican restaurant in downtown Chicago that's a favorite of the Obamas.

Also, we now know why we were unable to flip Louisiana:

Obama does have a weakness for chips and salsa and tends to put hot sauce on everything. At Dooky Chase's Creole restaurant in New Orleans, he offended longtime owner Leah Chase by pouring hot sauce all over the gumbo she offered to fatten him up.

Memo to BHO: You don't pour hot sauce over gumbo, or any other kind of Louisiana food. You sprinkle it on, much like you would with balsamic vinegar over an elitist arugula salad. (That's why Tabasco bottles have that tiny little opening; local brands down there generally do not.) That represents a titanic gaffe on par with John Kerry ordering his Philly cheesesteak with Swiss!

The national media's indifference to Gumbogate demonstrates once again their lack of concern for the people of NOLA and the Gulf Coast. It may very well have cost us 9 EVs. The fact that over 100,000 mostly Dem New Orleanians have not yet returned, over three years after the Federal Flood, pales into insignificance by comparison. :sarcasm:

[Beetwasher]

1. Excuse Me?

You rang?

[TomInTib]

9. Hah! I thought of you when I read the OP.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Beetwasher]

22. Even John Lennon Loved Beets

He wrote a song about them:

"Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout
Carrots, Onions, Broccoli, Lettuce, Cabbage, Tomatoes
This-veggie, that-veggie, veggie veggie veggie
All we are saying is give beets a chance
All we are saying is give beets a chance
All we are saying is give beets a chance!"

[KamaAina]

25. You should come to New Haven/southern CT

There, the familiar round pies often topped with pepperoni or sausage are often called "apizza", pronounced in Neapolitan dialect as "a-BEETS"!

[Jennicut]

62. Wooster St. Pizza!

I am from Cheshire. We have one in Southington, love that pizza. I really want to get to New Haven and have the real deal though.

[TomInTib]

28. I laughed out loud on that one.

Thanks

Tom

[BrklynLiberal]

52. OY!!!

[DevonRex]

2. I hate them too. So did my father, who was on an aircraft carrier

in the Pacific during WWII and that's all they had to eat for a week or so. He got sick just looking at them after that.

Funny, but I like borscht. Just can't eat plain old beets.

[Arugula Latte]

3. I am a vegetable FREAK, but I've gotta say, I mostly agree with Obama on this one.

They're strangely sweet, and that's just not right. I can eat them if they're roasted and served in a savory salad with onions, greens and bleu cheese, say.

[Cha]

60. I use to never like beets but they

were offered shredded, raw organic on the salad bar in a cafe I worked at in Escondido, California back in the '80's.. and they were so good on salads with avocados and shredded carrots that I've been doing that ever since.:9

[Arugula Latte]

64. Hi, Z ... That does sound pretty good...

I could eat them like that if they're mixed up with other good stuff like avocadoes -- YUM :loveya:

:hi:

[Cha]

72. Hey Oregonian..it's all in the

way you prep them.

I've been offline for so long waiting for my new 'puter mouse that has finally arrived.:) Sneaking looks at DU from work:P

:hi:

[TomInTib]

4. Kudos to Bayless and Topolobampo, one of my favorites in Chicago.

Great guy, great restaurant (and the one next door ain't too shabby, either).

[BrklynLiberal]

5. mmm I LOVE BEETS!..Beet juice, beet borscht, raw beets in a salad...

There is just something about them that I love!!!

[Beetwasher]

8. You Know What They Say, "Any Story That Begins With A Beet...

Ends with the devil."

[LiberalEsto]

12. If you can't beet 'em

eat 'em

[Shoelace]

20. lol, good line LiberalEsto!

[ecstatic]

24. do you like liver too?

:)

[BrklynLiberal]

49. I used to eat it and like it with onions. Don't eat meat anymore.

[Window]

30. I love pickled beets. I also like celery, carrot, apple and beet juiced

together from the health food store. It really cleans you out. LOL!

[BrklynLiberal]

50. mmmm Absolutely right...I love the pickled beets too..

That is a great combination of juices....especially fresh.

[ncgrits]

67. You and me both Brklyn! I LOVE BEETS! When our Doc Greens restaurant stopped

having beets as an option for my salad I completely lost interest in eating there!

--ncgrits (secret admirer of Dwight Shrute)

[azmouse]

6. I'm just liking this man more and more.

Beets? :scared:

[Midlodemocrat]

7. beets are worse than eggs.

blech. :puke:

[MikeE]

10. I love beets

Try roasting them. They get really sweet and are great tossed with a little EVOO, lemon or lime juice, salt, pepper and crumbled goat cheese.

[azmouse]

14. mmmm.... goat cheese.

Hold the beets. :)

[BrklynLiberal]

51. mmm Making my mouth water....

[gratefultobelib]

11. Well, he has not tasted MY pickled beets!!

[Glimmer of Hope]

19. Do you make them with hard boiled eggs?

[mscuedawg]

26. YUMMIO...purple pickled eggs...just made some last weekend for my friend that visited!!!!

[Glimmer of Hope]

31. Lol!! I thought my mother was the only person who made that weird

purple egg crap!

[mscuedawg]

34. Mmmm....no way! My Pennsylvania Dutch & German G'ma made the best!!!

Homemade noodles....blueberry dumplins....German stuffing....kraut and pork... I'm drooling... :hi:

[MikeE]

59. Yumm!

I grw up eating those. I still make them sometimes.

[gratefultobelib]

42. Oh good heavens, no! Sugar, vinegar, salt and beets. No spices. My husband's grandmother's recipe

[Glimmer of Hope]

13. Eating canned beets as a child kind of ruined them for me. And

my mother made some disgusting southern concoction of pickled beets and boiled eggs.

[JeffR]

15. Beet horseradish is one of the great pleasures in life.

Poor guy doesn't know what he's missing.

[emilyg]

36. Especially with a hard boiled egg.

[JeffR]

37. Yep. Great on fish too.

[BrklynLiberal]

53. Not sure onthe spelling...CHarain... on Passover..with Gefilte Fish..

[Mr. McD]

16. There at the bottom my my list also, right under okra.

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[ncgrits]

68. Say it ain's so! You must mean BOILED okra, cuz FRIED okra is the best! eom

[Shakespeare]

17. She was offended because he put hot sauce on his gumbo?

And she runs a creole restaurant? Seriously? I've spent considerable time in cajun country and in Nawlins, and I've never NOT put hot sauce in my gumbo.

Guess I won't be stopping at Dooky Chase's anytime soon. That's just.....odd.

[KamaAina]

27. No, no, no. She was offended because he *poured* it on, as though it were ketchup.

As a connoisseur, you will of course be aware that proper hot sauce technique involves sprinkling and/or shaking, never pouring!

edit; sprinking? Is that done with a spork? :shrug:

[Shakespeare]

38. Meh. Unless he had some special kind of container, I'm pretty sure he must've shaken it on.

I think little miss offended britches was just looking for something to complain about.

[DrToast]

18. There goes the Dwight Schrute vote.

[DesertRat]

55. LOL I thought of Dwight when I read the OP

http://my.nbc.com/sn/c/2/3/c/pingu,nbc.com/images/c480a13740d2c341616d7f8d902c482d.jpg

[ecstatic]

21. I would avoid beets too if anyone I knew cooked them

:shrug: I've never even seen them on a restaurant menu, but I think I had them as a kid.

[Anwen]

23. Mmm, I pour hot sauce over everything too!

Looks like the Obama's have great culinary tastes, as well. ;-)

[143tbone]

29. Beets taste like dirt. And don't ask me how I know what dirt tastes like. n/t.

[Historic NY]

32. pickled beets with onions.........yum

[DU GrovelBot]

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[KamaAina]

35. And just what vegetables do *you* eat?

Oh, that's right. You're a robot! :P

[kestrel91316]

39. I've made some really exquisite pickled beets in my day, particularly

the year when I had a bumper crop of tender little Cylindra beets. I bet President-Elect Obama would love them, but I'm not gonna push the issue. Besides, hot sauce would pretty much ruin them.

[BlooInBloo]

40. Good. Beets are fucking disgusting.

[CatWoman]

41. I like beets AND broccoli

:shrug:

[drm604]

44. Me too.

I don't know what's wrong with these people. :shrug:

[Rex_Goodheart]

43. You don't pour hot sauce OVER gumbo....

You sprinkle it INTO. It's a soup. Maybe you're got it confused with jambalaya?

Sincerely,
Louisiana Rex

Sorry I couldn't deliver enough votes for Obama here.

[CatWoman]

45. did you know that Lee Atwater was a hot sauce freak?

he put it on everything, and special ordered it as he found regular hot sauce too mild.

Learned that watching Frontline Tuesday night :)

[KamaAina]

54. Oh crikey. If that means hot sauce causes brain cancer,

or worse still, Rabid Right-Wing Whackjob Syndrome (RRWWS),

:scared:

[Ignis]

58. Uh oh...

I'm going to go flush my Dave's and Da Bomb right away!


...When pigs fly. ;)

[KamaAina]

46. I most certainly do not have gumbo confused with jambalaya

they'd never let me back in town if I did!

Either the AP writer or -- horrors! -- the president-elect is the one who's confused.

[peekaloo]

47. That's why he can be trusted.

He doesn't have beety eyes. :hide:

[uppityperson]

48. Emergency Room calls, starting late August

"omg! I just used the toilet and I'm bleeding to death!!!"
what did you have for dinner last night?
"beets. ohhhhhhhh"

Seriously.

[BrklynLiberal]

56. I have a friend who went thru that exact situation....

[kenny blankenship]

79. Insert English Vicar-inserting-things-bumwise joke here

Hello is this the Emergency Room? Right. Vicar Lodgepole here, I think you better send the ambulance. I've just had an 'orrible crack up in the Rectory. Yes, again. I was putting doors on all of our kitchen cabinets D.I.Y. you see, and of course I was working on the step ladder. I was high up in the air, to get at the top hinges and I was thinking, My Goodness but it is scorching up here! The high ceilings you know and the hot oven going all day in Summer...So thinking nothing of it I took my trousers off. And I happened to be "going commando" as they say. Well, this time of year happens to be beet season and the kitchen was just absolutely full of...What do you mean "Oh here we go"?

[GreenPartyVoter]

57. I dunno about "Beets are the new broccoli," but I _can_ tell you that

"Grits Ain't Groceries." *humming*

[Beetwasher]

61. Kick

:evilgrin:

[OnionPatch]

63. Maybe he never had one fresh out of the garden.

Maybe a lot of you haven't had them fresh from the garden. :shrug: I hated beets too, until I ate some fresh. And baked, not pickled. I hate pickled. Baked, cooled and sliced with some goat cheese and walnuts on a salad is just awesome.

Oh well, to each his own.

[Terran]

65. Beets are yucky

(no offense to Beetwasher!).

And with *some* people's gumbo, well, you just have to have the hot sauce. Even really good gumbo sort of demands some hot sauce. I hereby announce full endorsement of President-Elect Obama's eating habits. I hear that Mexican place in Chicago that they like is da bomb, my partner ate there a couple of years ago.

[youthere]

66. Well this just changes EVERYTHING....

I don't know if I can support, or even TRUST a president who doesn't eat BEETS.
Beets RAWK. I eat em any way I can! Pickled, baked,boiled, steamed, whatever.. just gimme sum o dem BEETS. Now COOKED CARROTS...:puke:

[AtomicKitten]

69. I'm in complete agreement with him on beets.

:puke:

[Bunny]

70. Is it possible for me to retract my vote from last week?

Had I known that the President-Elect disliked beets, I would have never voted for him. There's clearly a deranged sociopath hidden under that cool demeanor.

Me? I can eat an entire can of red beets, right from the can, which, by the way, is a clinical sign of good psychological health.

[ShortnFiery]

71. Note to some self-proclaimed Nawlins "experts" ...

My husband was born and raised "down there" and YES, he POURS hot sauce almost every darn thing, even gumbo. Tabasco bottles don't last long at our household ... no sprinkles ---> down pour. :evilgrin:

[KamaAina]

81. Ah, I see. So "Fiery" is your married name?

:-)

I guess I just didn't get around enough. Hell, I was only there two years.

[nini]

73. I agree with him on that one - they taste like dirt

broccoli on the other hand is one of my favorite foods.

[Quantess]

74. Watch for an immediate increase in beet consumption.

W hates beets? They must be good, then.
:evilgrin:

[yellowcanine]

75. Doesn't bode well for Russian relations. Borscht is practically the national dish.

Borscht (also borsht or borshch) is a vegetable soup from Eastern Europe. It is traditionally made with beetroot as a main ingredient<1><2> which gives it a strong red color.

[PlanetBev]

76. Beet borsht is an acquired taste

Having had grandparents from Russia, I grew up on it. Especially cold borscht, in summer. Potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, scallions and sour cream floating around in it.

I can understand why people are grossed out by other people's food traditions. Acquired tastes are strange.

[yellowcanine]

78. Red beet eggs! Big in Pennsylvania! Good thing this wasn't revealed before the election.

Man I love red beet eggs. And pickled beets. Ummmmmm!

[Retrograde]

77. what's his stand on spam musubi?

and other Hawaiian delicacies?

I was expecting BHO to do something to disappoint me in the early days. That's it: he's not invited for my Christmas borscht dinner.

OTOH, he's a Bayliss fan, so that redeems him somewhat.

[KamaAina]

80. Not sure. Shane Victorino, on the other hand, is firmly in the pro-musubi camp.

The Phillies center fielder, a Maui native, was taken to task during the recent World Series by our dear friends at PETA :sarcasm: for eating Spam. Seems PETA has a beef (pun intended) with one of Hormel's pork producers. Who would have thought? :eyes:

As for the "local grindz" cred of that other "local boy made good", I have heard nothing on the musubi front, however Zippy's and, I believe, Rainbow Drive-In (not a real drive-in; that's just what many local-style plate lunch joints are called) were mentioned when he visited here in August.

[Erin Elizabeth]

82. Of course there's a beet belt!

But it's less a belt and more a town--Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Wonder if Biden loves beets?

Dwight sure does. But Dwight probably didn't vote for Obama anyway.