Everyone says that you are what you eat. But could your political party affiliation be the driver of what goes on your plate, too? That's what food trend analyst Phil Lempert (of koodie fame) is arguing. Examining 2009 data from Hunch, he found conservatives opt for "mainstream, comfort food staples," while liberals are likely to gravitate toward "international and exotic cuisines."
According to Lempert, conservatives correlated with foods like pizza, macaroni and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly for lunch, plus fried chicken, meatloaf, and steak for dinner, with Italian food being the cuisine of choice.
Liberals, on the other hand, preferred Asian: Thai and Indian for lunch, and veggie burgers and green curry for supper. His findings indicate they also tend to make more nutritionally sound choices, such as eating vegetables more often and fast food less frequently, and making dishes from scratch.
Those looking to toe the bipartisan line should stick to mutually-loved foods such as hot dogs, bacon double cheeseburgers, ice cream sans sprinkles, romaine lettuce, and salt on a margarita glass. Do these findings line up correctly with your political leanings?
Source: Flickr User thebittenword.com






theOutnet
kind of yes.... I'm fairly moderate (lots of salt on my margarita, and REAL lime juice none of that sweet and sour nonsense) but agree with some ideas from both the conservative side (mac & cheese, steaakk!!!!) and liberal side (veggies, cooking from scratch)
1Kind of. I'm liberal, but I eat a lot of pizza. According to the study, conservatives are the ones that eat more pizza. I do love Asian food though, which supposedly correlates with liberals.
2I didn't follow up on the study link but I'm guessing this is probably a classic geopolitical study with the conservatives coming from the heartland and the liberals coming from the coasts. I think the hometowns of the people in the study might explain a lot. My boyfriend and I are both pretty conservative and he is from Idaho and definitely fits the conservative meal profile whereas I'm from Seattle and definitely favor the liberal meal profile.
3My palate definitely favors the liberal meal profile (I just adore international food and veggie) but then again, I love them pizza, mac and cheese, etc (the conservative meal) at times. They're so yummy too.
sweetnspice has a point, it may be from where you come from/where you're raised. I come from a foreign country and have traveled a lot that's why I'm used to enjoying international meals...
My more liberal in-laws favor the traditional conservative meal profile alongside my husband (who was a liberal, but now leaning toward conservative).
Btw. Is there any meal palate for a libertarian? LOL.
4Correlations do not represent causation.
5I like all the foods listed. I guess that makes me a flip-flopper
6Syako is right. I would guess this has more to do with geographical location rather than politics, as sweetinspice mentioned.
7Sort of.
8i sure do eat like a liberal
and i'm from the midwest. gasp! we eat healthy too!
(i do think this study is silly, however)
9Hail, hail Liberalism.
While I do enjoy the occasion scoop of Mac and Cheese, I'd much rather keep my palate diverse by taking in the flavors of the World. I think there's some truth to this study.
10Sort of. I'm a liberal even by Canadian standards, and I do love me some Indian and Japanese food. Still, my favourite food is Italian, which points to the conservative side. It could also point to the fact that I am Italian, but the study doesn't really touch on that.
11I agree with many above - this is largely regional. Midwest and South verses either coast - as a Midwesterner transplanted to the East Coast for years, I'd say there were huge differences in how people ate (and at times, a bit of snobbery about our Minnesotan casseroles).
12I'm conservative and I like all kinds of weird and very nutritious food. But my husband is also conservative and likes very traditional food. So yeah, correlation does not always equal causation.
13I'm a liberal person and I eat tons of food listed up there. I can't just stick to one type of cuisine.
14no, this doesn't fit my political leanings at all. i LOVE comfort food like mac and cheese and pizza, and make mac and cheese from scratch quite often. but i do like to try new foods.
15Seems like a very unscientific study to me. I am conservative and I enjoy comfort food, asian, italian, local farmer markets etc. and so on. And cheese, did they seriously say conservatives like velveeta and liberals brie? I have to laugh at this article, it's so ridiculous.
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