George H.W. Bush's Favorite Crunchy Snack Saw Its Popularity Soar During His Presidency

George H.W. Bush occupies an oddly liminal place in presidential history. He served one term between the administrations of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, two ultra-charismatic, paradigm-shifting politicians who defined the 1980s and the 1990s, respectively. Bush, by contrast, is remembered as a pragmatic yet somewhat uninspiring wonk whose foreign policy triumphs were outweighed by outrage over his reneging on a promise of "no new taxes." (He's also remembered as the father of George W. Bush, which is not necessarily a point in his favor for many people.) But before a recession (and an out-of-context photo that appeared to show him awestruck by a supermarket scanner) sank his favorability, Bush was popular enough that his favorite snack, pork rinds, enjoyed a major boost from his endorsement.

Although he was born and raised in the wealthy, WASP-y confines of Connecticut, Bush took to his adopted home state of Texas, including some favorite local snacks. An article documenting his presidential campaign in 1988 noted his love of pork rinds served with Tabasco sauce. Although there's some contention as to whether or not it was, in fact, his true favorite — others report that Bush more frequently reached for popcorn — there's no denying what a boon his endorsement was for the snack. Previously maligned as greasy and low-class, sales of pork rinds boomed, with a major supplier even selling a red, white, and blue bag labeled "The President's Favorite."

Although some may shrug off George H.W. Bush's professed love of pork rinds as an attempt to appear relatable to the common man (more specifically, the common Texan), he had other dishes he liked. John Moeller, the White House chef at the time, recalled making a meal of sushi and salmon teriyaki for Bush, which he enjoyed to the point where he paid his personal compliments to the chef. (Thankfully, he didn't throw it back up over the Japanese prime minister that time.) In the White House, he was described as having a voracious appetite while still remaining as trim as ever.

Perhaps more notable than the food Bush enjoyed was the food he didn't enjoy — namely, America's favorite vegetable, broccoli. He had a powerful dislike of all cruciferous vegetables, including cabbage and Brussels sprouts (back in the days when they were still unpalatably bitter to some people), but he spared special ire for broccoli, repeatedly joking about his hatred for the vegetable during speeches and banning it from Air Force One. As broccoli was surging in popularity at the time, being considered the "vegetable of the '80s," this earned Bush some more bad publicity: broccoli growers retaliated by backing up literal truckloads of the stuff in front of the White House. (Most of it was donated to charity, partly due to Bush's enmity for broccoli and, presumably, partly due to a lack of a big enough microwave to steam them in.)