All things Obama-Food-Related

The 44th American Presidential Inauguration is tomorrow so I thought I'd discuss the fact that Barack Obama seems to attract a lot of food-related attention. In fact, there's a blog that follows all things Obama-food-related: obamafoodorama.blogspot.com! The creator, Eddie Gehman Kohan, states that "Barack attracts so much attention about food because he's skinny- and always seems to be eating". She thinks the the interest began with some food comments Obama made on the campaign trail that resulted in political attacks. For example, in April 2008, when asked about Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas, Obama answered: "Why can't I just eat my waffle?" He was then criticized for "waffling" on the issues.
Here are some other food-related-Obama things take from this great blog:

"Eat the View" is a campaign to urge the Obamas to turn the useless pesticide-laden White House Lawn into an organic garden, providing fresh seasonal ingredients for White House events, local food banks and schools. Click Here to sign the petition.

Cake artist Zilly Rosen or Zillycakes created an ambitious 1200 mini-cupcake mosaic (pictured) of Obama right before election day.

Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl and influential chef and long-time champion of locally-grown food Alice Waters sent an open letter urging the Obamas to choose a White House chef who emphasizes local and organic food (they didn't and stuck with Bush's chef, Cristeta Comerford).

Following Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's conversation with Obama, he told a reporter that he was impressed with his fondness for local foods. According to Yudhoyono, when he invited the President-Elect to come to Jakarta, Obama replied that "besides forging greater cooperation between the two nations, a visit would give him a chance to try local food again, including meatball soup, nasi goreng and rambutan." Obama lived in Indonesia for 4 years as a child.

Obama's favourite meal is his wife's shrimp linguini. His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea. His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars. He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol. He worked a Baskin-Robbins as a teenager and now doesn't like ice cream.

Barack Obama eating: