What would Michelle Bachmann eat?

November 11, 2009 5:22 PM

How Food Preferences Vary by Political Ideology

Courtesy of Hunch. Previously.

posted by Lord_Pall (96 comments total)

Conservatives like deep dish?
posted by brundlefly at 5:26 PM on November 11, 2009

Reminds me of this old comment by ColdChef:

Hypothetical pitch meeting.

"Okay, Bob...what does our research show?"

"Well, sir, it appears that McCain supporters like bran cereal, hard candies, and stool softeners."

"Good, good. And Clinton?"

"Says here that Clinton supporters like white wine, organic foods, and vegetarian options."

"No surprises there. What do you have for Obama?"

"Well, here's the problem...Our polls show us that Obama supporters like fried chicken and watermelon."

"Good god, man! We can't print that! What kind of demographics were targeted?"

"That's the thing, sir. It's just random chance. Randomly, Obama supporters of all races really just like fired chicken and watermelon. The boys in research are just scratching their heads."

"Look...um...just make up a bunch of crap about what specific candidates prefer and run with that."

"That's what we were going to suggest, sir."

posted by Rhaomi at 5:27 PM on November 11, 2009 [5 favorites]

What the fuck is wrong with deep dish, you commie pinko librul?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:27 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Liberals eat fruit daily but don't know what an apple corer is.

I'm sure there's some great insight in there, I just can figure out what it is.
posted by The Giant Squid at 5:28 PM on November 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

Conservatives like deep dish?

Isn't that invention a heresy from Chicago?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:30 PM on November 11, 2009 [4 favorites]

Yeah, the apple corer stuck out to me. Everything else was sort of predictable.
posted by roll truck roll at 5:30 PM on November 11, 2009

Liberals: "55 percent more likely to take a survey on how food preferences align with politics"
posted by puckish at 5:30 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Oh God, I never realized what a raving super liberal I was before. I just thought I liked good food.
posted by bearwife at 5:34 PM on November 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

Liberals not knowing what an apple corer is, when they're more likely to cook and bake a cake from scratch and eat fruits and vegetables and avoid fast food, was just weird to me.

Also, weird to me that conservatives are more likely to just buy a birthday cake than make it from scratch. I'm liberal and I make people cakes from scratch, but I'd have always thought that was more common among conservative types. I mean, what the hell else do you do in a "country style" kitchen except bake cakes and pies?
posted by Nattie at 5:34 PM on November 11, 2009

I was kind of hoping the results wouldn't confirm all of my prejudices. Interesting, nonetheless.

That said, I'm surprised my liberal brethren didn't know what an apple corer/slicer is. They're great! It turns a basked of apple into slices ready for pies really fast. What's the point of being a Washington or East Coast Ivy Elite if you can't quickly cook the fantastic local apples?
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:35 PM on November 11, 2009

What the fuck is wrong with deep dish, you commie pinko librul?

Nuthin. Just kinda odd compared to the more mass-market tastes in that column.

NOT DEEPDISHIST
posted by brundlefly at 5:36 PM on November 11, 2009

Breaking News: People who have political majorities in given areas tend to like the foods and conveniences available in said areas.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:36 PM on November 11, 2009 [6 favorites]

Liberals eat fruit daily but don't know what an apple corer is.

I'm sure there's some great insight in there, I just can't figure out what it is.

I dunno, conservatives are more likely to invest in unitasking kitchen gadgets? Apples are too bourgeois for liberals? It seemed odd to me, too.
posted by jedicus at 5:36 PM on November 11, 2009

Liberals not knowing what an apple corer is, when they're more likely to cook and bake a cake from scratch and eat fruits and vegetables and avoid fast food, was just weird to me.

As a liberal who makes a mean apple crisp (learned from my mother, quite a liberal herself, who similarly never used an apple corer in her life), the answer is this: there's this thing called a "knife" which can "slice" apples into "pieces."
posted by mightygodking at 5:38 PM on November 11, 2009 [32 favorites]

How often do you eat at fast food restaurants?

Conservatives trend towards/are strongly correlated with...
63% more likely say “at least a few times per week”

Liberals trend towards/are strongly correlated with...
92% more likely to say “rarely or never”

So my takeway from this is that all I need to do is bide my time and all the right wingers will keel over from strokes and heart attacks, and I'll be living in my lefty-liberal paradise.

I've got no problem with that.
posted by dersins at 5:38 PM on November 11, 2009

I'm an elite liberal type and didn't know what the apple thingy was either but then most of my cooking involves reading box labels and pushing buttons. I'm pretty sure that our oven works but I can't remember the last time it was on. It certainly has never had a homemade pie in it.
posted by octothorpe at 5:39 PM on November 11, 2009

It seemed a little odd to me that liberals top meals for dinner were green curry, an ethiopian dish, or a veggie burger.
posted by kylej at 5:40 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Pretty sure that's an apple peeler and corer. It works great. Better than I figured it would. It comes out when it's time to make applesauce. We have one up in the...

oh shit
posted by jquinby at 5:42 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

This doesn't strike me as representative at all. SWPL yuppie liberals aren't the majority of liberals.

And if it was reliable it would suggest liberals are becoming the party of the rich, as the habits that go along with higher socioeconomic status are associated with liberalism.
posted by dgaicun at 5:44 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I knew what the apple corer was, but as it is a very specific piece of hardware that can be replaced with a multi-use peeler, I see no need for others to know this.
posted by Lord_Pall at 5:44 PM on November 11, 2009

No way 33% of Americans make lamb curry for dinner at home. No shot.
posted by shothotbot at 5:45 PM on November 11, 2009 [11 favorites]

That's an apple corer? It looks like a rig I saw at a trade show that peels apples. An apple corer looks like a cylinder with some teeth down the side.

Anyway, it was pretty spot-on for librul commie me, except that we have tuna casserole and other midwest staples for dinner quite often. Lamb chili is more likely than lamb curry, but that does show up on occasion.

Double bacon cheeseburger: disgusting. That thing is bigger than your head.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 5:45 PM on November 11, 2009

I'm with shothotbot; that bit stretches the credulity of this study a bit for me. Then again, there's was a pretty big culinary gulf in the question itself.
posted by Pecinpah at 5:49 PM on November 11, 2009

"Velveeta" selected as a "cheese variety"

*facepalm*

I guess this explains John Boehner and Eric Cantor as "congressman varieties" and Cal Thomas as a "columnist variety"
posted by EatTheWeek at 5:49 PM on November 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

OK. I like Diner/Americana, Thai, Chinese, Italian, lots of meat, love arugula, hate sushi, hate curry, hate coconut. Guess that makes me a moderate.
posted by qvantamon at 5:51 PM on November 11, 2009

As for the apple corer, I'd like to institute "Can you get me some porn of it" as the "Can you use it in a sentence" for intrincate devices.
posted by qvantamon at 5:52 PM on November 11, 2009

This made me recall one of my favorite MeFi comments of all time made by jonmc in a previous thread.

Based on your answers, you are most likely a liberal.

Who, me? Oh, well, get me a fucking latte, and a bag of salt & vinegar chips while your at it.

This caused me to just about choke on my salt and vinegar chips, spilling my organic, free-trade coffee in the process.
posted by Avelwood at 5:53 PM on November 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

The report draws on aggregated data collected between April 2009 and November 2009 from Hunch, a website which aids in decision making.

Thanks, Hunch. You have aided me to decide to never use your site again.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 5:54 PM on November 11, 2009

I like cheddar AND brie.
But I voted NDP in the last election, so...
posted by sandraregina at 5:56 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I think that the data contains a LOT of europeans. Pret a Manger isn't particularly prevalent in the US AFAIK.
posted by Lord_Pall at 5:57 PM on November 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

Right. Seeing how the question was worded, I'd go with the lamb curry too, as it's the "closest" to "put a bunch of veggies in a wok and sprinkle spices on them."
posted by roll truck roll at 5:58 PM on November 11, 2009

shothotbot: No way 33% of Americans make lamb curry for dinner at home. No shot.

A lot more likely 33% of liberals wished they made lamb curry for dinner at home. People do lie in surveys.

While we're on the question of range, a lot of the questions suffer from this problem. What is gained by having McDonalds and Burger King fries on the list? Is it fair to lump Chinese and Japanese and Thai food all in one response, while leaving off Mexican? Where's the data on the cheese question (which I still can't find exact methodology for)? Looks like somebody got the answers they wanted to get.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 5:59 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Pretty sure that's an apple peeler and corer

The apple turns on a spit, a little blade on a spring slides by against the apple as it turns, and the peel comes off in one long string. Kind of like a wood lathe. They work well, but tend to spray apple juice around if you go too fast, and what's the point of the special tool if you're going to go slow?
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:00 PM on November 11, 2009

I like cheeseburgers with baby Swiss cheese, arugula, and homemade peach chutney. I am large, I contain multitudes. Of unhealthy saturated fats.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:04 PM on November 11, 2009 [4 favorites]

Didn't McDonald's run a Pret A Manger franchise in the US a while ago? Is that still going?
posted by acb at 6:07 PM on November 11, 2009

I'm liberal and I make people cakes from scratch

Would you care to share your recipe for PEOPLE CAKES???
posted by Sys Rq at 6:07 PM on November 11, 2009 [31 favorites]

Except, of course, that this is more of a poll on what people say that they eat rather than what they actually eat.

While I am foodist enough to believe that conservatives probably eat more fast food than liberals, I am honest enough to admit that liberals would probably tend to lie about their fast food intake more than conservatives would.
posted by leftcoastbob at 6:09 PM on November 11, 2009 [6 favorites]

Interesting but not many surprises..
Conservatives tend to eat like rednecks at the state fair, and are ignorant of any thing "ethnic". Who'd have thought?


The idea of a conservative vegan or even vegetarian is weird. I thought they ate meat out of sheer spite if nothing else.
posted by Liquidwolf at 6:09 PM on November 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

Conservatives can't be vegetarians, they've always got to choose life.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:17 PM on November 11, 2009 [5 favorites]

I bet you'd find their sample group is FUBAR. Two of the top 3 "chains" for liberals are only in New York City area (Pret A Manger and Cosi). In their methodology statement at the top, they don't make any mention about controlling for geography. It's all self-selection.

The lamb curry question also is weird. The options were "A burger on the grill", "Yellow Coconut curry with lamb and rice" and "tuna casserole or meatloaf". I still think 35% is awfully high even for "closest to something you'd typically cook at home."
posted by jeversol at 6:21 PM on November 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

Well, that type of apple corer requires a lip on your counter, which is more likely to be found in a country-style kitchen. Those with a more modern kitchen may use this type.

I remember reading somewhere that Bill Clinton's favorite GS cookie was the Samoa. Interestingly (or not), the name is changing or is different in different markets.
posted by Morrigan at 6:24 PM on November 11, 2009

If you click through to the actual statistics the differences seem far less significant. Surprisingly insignificant in fact, I really don't understand where they got the likelyhood numbers, it seems like some kind of statistical trick. example
posted by 12%juicepulp at 6:24 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Apple corer is a unitasker. Clear proof Conservatives do not watch Alton Brown and are therefore Bad People.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:26 PM on November 11, 2009

The results would be more useful if income and formal education were controlled for.

The well-to-do, educated conservative people I know seem to really like Thai and Indian food, and soft cheeses like Brie--that's less a function of politics, and more a function of social class.

And in terms of the comfortable, overeducated people I know, I know more conservatives who are foodies. My lefty friends often have disdain for spending too much on extravagant ingredients.

At similar education and income levels, one noticable difference among the sample of people I know is: conservatives are waaaay less likely to be vegetarians.
posted by surenoproblem at 6:28 PM on November 11, 2009

Obama seems to prefer deep-dish St. Louis pizza, the moderate. And in some locations, his neck is made of ham.
posted by Morrigan at 6:34 PM on November 11, 2009

Are you comfortable paying over $20 per pound of cheese?

Not unless it's a Rocquefort washed in the blood of saints and with a rind of pure cocaine, no. At $44/kg I could buy a person.

I wonder if this is just measuring how insane a person is when spending money? Wait, that's it, this is a proxy for how liberals are going to break the budget on welfare programs isn't it? I mean, anybody who spend that much on cheese surely can't be trusted with the nation's finances.

(PS I've never bought cheese in the US with a pocketbook eye. Ignore me for my ignorance on US matters victual, and accept this small bundles of pixels as an apology:.)
posted by Sova at 6:35 PM on November 11, 2009

I love brie, but also McDonald's fries. What does that make me?
posted by reenum at 6:39 PM on November 11, 2009

Two of the top 3 "chains" for liberals are only in New York City area (Pret A Manger and Cosi).

Yeah, that's not right for Cosi. It might not be quite a national chain yet, but it's getting close and is really not only NYC: "There are more than 140 restaurants in 19 states and the District of Columbia." (Wikipedia page). (And it looks like Pret A Manger now has one location in DC...)
posted by skynxnex at 6:41 PM on November 11, 2009

I like Mexican food. Judging from its complete absence in this survey, I take it that means I'm an anarchist.
posted by thivaia at 6:43 PM on November 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

I grew up in a very liberal household in the Fifties and Sixties. We had an apple corer/peeler. A very cool tool. We had two and a half freezers. If ground beef was on sale, my mom would buy twenty pounds. (We had a big family.) Those depression babies (my parents were born in the Twenties) were damn frugal. Politics didn't have much to do with food choices back then. Of course, there weren't a lot of choices. One kind of apple, one kind of lettuce, one kind or orange in the not-so-super-mart.

Times have changed. However, this survey is over the top ridiculous. Sure, anybody could predict that liberals like ethnic food and conservatives like buffets. But do 35% of liberals actually make "coconut lamb curry" at home?

Please.
posted by kozad at 6:51 PM on November 11, 2009

thivaia, not only that, but which type? Old-style Mexican with everything drowned in bland cheese (conservative), versus new-style with words like "fusion" on the menu and "authentic mole" and such (liberal)?
posted by emjaybee at 6:57 PM on November 11, 2009

I love brie, but also McDonald's fries. What does that make me?

Someone who, when the revolution comes, will simultaneously be the first up against the wall, and, somehow, also doing the shooting.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:58 PM on November 11, 2009 [5 favorites]

I love brie, but also McDonald's fries. What does that make me?

Irregular?

To tell the truth, I've been sick of this 'conservatives do this, liberals do this' bullshit for awhile. Besides, a truly well rounded person can find something enjoyable about both 18-year-old Macallan and Olde English 800, foie gras and chopped liver, etc, etc..

also, I don't care much for lattes, but I do like salt & vinegar chips, but after finishing a bag, I feel like I've been punched in the mouth.
posted by jonmc at 7:00 PM on November 11, 2009 [4 favorites]

Glenn Beck's recent rant against Meatless Monday puzzled me until I read this report. To Beck and his followers, eating meat is as American as apple pie (the apples cored with the appropriate tool).

Mr. Beck has just returned from a week in the hospital, recovering from his ongoing digestive troubles.
posted by twoleftfeet at 7:00 PM on November 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

How is this in any way scientific? Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is an internet survey which is going to be self-selecting rather than random. And did they even try to control for regional differences? People have eating habits particular to their region, and political affiliation is heavily effected by that. This implies no correlation between the two. And what about socioeconomic status or level of education? Are poor liberals more likely to eat junk food? I wager so.

Most of this stuff is obvious (vegans are more likely to be liberal or eat brie, you don't say?!), but I mean, this must be statistical noise or the result of poor methodology: "More than 70% of both groups prefer their sandwich cut diagonally rather than vertically. Still, conservatives are 18% more likely than liberals to prefer the vertical approach."
posted by cj_ at 7:07 PM on November 11, 2009

Tonight, I had bratwurst, sauerkraut, beans and beer for dinner, which I can only assume renders me neo-fascist. and mildly flatulent.
posted by jonmc at 7:10 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

They seem to present a lot of "American" dishes as individual dishes, and "ethnic" cusine as a group. So you get weird comparisons like "PB&J and Pizza" vs "Thai food and Indian food". Should that be "American and Italian" vs "Thai and Indian"? "PB&J and Pizza" vs "Curry and... more curry?" (I kid).
posted by wildcrdj at 7:20 PM on November 11, 2009

Apple corer is a unitasker

It's also a great sex toy. Which explains a lot, given the predilection of right-wingers for secret bondage (sorry, "deep dish").
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:28 PM on November 11, 2009 [4 favorites]

Interesting: There's the corer/peeler, and then there's the corer/slicer. Why no corer/peeler/slicer? PATENT PENDING
posted by Sys Rq at 7:37 PM on November 11, 2009

I love brie, but also McDonald's fries. What does that make me?

Brilliant.
posted by fyrebelley at 7:46 PM on November 11, 2009

Girl Scout cookies (1)
-Conservative - Trefoils/shortbread
-Liberal - Samoas/Caramel deLites

No Thin Mints?
This is why I'm a third party voter!
posted by madajb at 7:51 PM on November 11, 2009 [7 favorites]

Bacon double cheeseburgers: bringing people together.
posted by nosila at 7:54 PM on November 11, 2009 [4 favorites]

I love brie, but also McDonald's fries. What does that make me?


Just a gravy away from the weirdest and most awesome poutine ever.
posted by dersins at 7:54 PM on November 11, 2009 [16 favorites]

The lamb curry question also is weird. The options were "A burger on the grill", "Yellow Coconut curry with lamb and rice" and "tuna casserole or meatloaf". I still think 35% is awfully high even for "closest to something you'd typically cook at home."

Well, I'd probably choose it and I've never made it. A lot of people are probably cooking for 1- or 2-, so "grilling" burgers is a little over-the-top. And tuna/meatloaf casseroles strike me as (1) gross and (2) a very family dish. Only one is somewhat close to "put a lot of veggies and meat in a pot and stir it around." The answers would look really different if "pasta with spaghetti sauce" or "stir fry" were on the list, I bet.

So, yes, terrible quiz.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 7:57 PM on November 11, 2009

Which explains a lot, given the predilection of right-wingers for secret bondage (sorry, "deep dish").

HEY!

Geez, I'm right here...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:59 PM on November 11, 2009

Yeah, I don't see much value in a survey to half-assedly confirm a lot of stereotypes about conservatives vs. liberals without exploring any of the broader social factors like age, income, geography, etc. This feels a bit too close to a validation of the "latte-sipping liberal" nonsense I hear from the Fox News crowd, with the implication being that if someone doesn't eat like you or talk like you, then you shouldn't consider them a part of your "group." It's easier to dehumanize someone when you've decided their customs are weird or other.

Part of the problem is the statistical trickery of these "likelihood" numbers they're reporting. If you actually click through to the distributions, you'll see that they're comparing percentages of respondents in each category (conservative/liberal) who answered in the extreme of the range of choices. This naturally creates seemingly larger differences, because if slightly more people answer one extreme option, it shows up as a large percentage increase. For example, the arugula/iceberg divide doesn't look so great when you consider that 10% of conservatives preferred arugula vs. 21% of liberals. But the way they report it on the front page, this comes out as "more than twice as likely." Statistically true, but disingenuous, says this statistician.
posted by albrecht at 8:24 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

It does make you wonder what's more "conservative" about buying a birthday cake for someone special at the supermarket as opposed to baking one yourself.
posted by George_Spiggott at 8:24 PM on November 11, 2009

It does make you wonder what's more "conservative" about buying a birthday cake for someone special at the supermarket as opposed to baking one yourself.

Conservatives like high fructose corn syrup. Brings out the gimp.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:50 PM on November 11, 2009

*chucks apple corer in trash*

*pulls apple corer out of trash and chucks it in recycling bin*
posted by HotToddy at 8:51 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I love Pret a Manger. I also love deep dish pizza and Italian food. And you're darn right I bake my cakes from scratch.

Way to give people identity crises, Hunch.
posted by cmgonzalez at 9:00 PM on November 11, 2009

>: A lot more likely 33% of liberals wished they made lamb curry for dinner at home. People do lie in surveys.

I'm a pinko socialist and am enjoying a curry made with Italian sausage ere as I type, (fusion!) but yes, I tend to think there's a lot of lying going on, especially regarding how much 'liberals' eat fast food. It reminds me of all my friends' moms when I was a kid saying their TV was only for educational films. Yeah, right.

>: I mean, what the hell else do you do in a "country style" kitchen except bake cakes and pies?
They only like the IDEA of a 'country style' kitchen.

What they actually eat is mass-produced food that's made to seem country-style, or whatever the industrialized interpretation of what 'country people' used to eat is.

As for store-bought desserts, I don't think most conservatives have the taste to know better.
Just the thought of the morbidly obese people at Hannaford fawning over the frosted cakes makes me want to throw up.
posted by dunkadunc at 9:01 PM on November 11, 2009

I feel like I've heard this before somewhere... oh yeah, Bourdieu's Distinction (full) (wiki), in which the author uses a series of questionnaires to tease out how certain foods and practices become associated with certain classes and end up strengthening both class boundaries and consciousness.

Of course I only know this because I am a effete (south)east coast liberal who likes his small portion of spicy whole-grain samoas to be artfully presented and garnished on a bed of arugula and naan at a pan-asian bistro that also serves veggies-only pizza that I can take home (ignoring the fast-food along the way) to my ultra-modern kitchen and load up with brie and double-cheese cheeseburgers before sitting down with my $100 dollar bottle of wine (I saw it reviewed on a foodie blog) to read a book by a post-modern Marxist French social theorist.

Would you like to come over some time and discuss habitus and field theory? I'll make mint juleps (I don't drink soda, sorry) and bake a cake.
posted by Panjandrum at 9:08 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Are you comfortable paying over $20 per pound of cheese?

Not unless it's a Rocquefort washed in the blood of saints and with a rind of pure cocaine, no. At $44/kg I could buy a person.

The thing is, no one buys a whole dang pound of the weird high-end cheese. It is a huge quantity. I probably routinely buy cheese that costs more that $20 a pound, but in couple of ounce-sized chunks.

If you get a wedge of gorgonzola for five bucks, or a raw milk cheddar for three bucks, and some, say, havarti or stilton you can then buy yourself some crackers and have a bunch of nice snacks over a week of munching with some apples to chop into slices. Apparently that kind of snack makes you a hippy elitist scumbag who doesn't like wholesome tasteless iceberg lettuce or something.

I am comfortable with that.
posted by winna at 9:57 PM on November 11, 2009

The many conservative vegetarians I've met--having owned a record-store/bookstore inside the only vegan/vegetarian cafe in the very conservative city of Jacksonville, FL--primarily wanted to keep their self-important selves healthy enough to live forever. Few seemed to care about the environmental and/or animal benefits of their dietary choices. For the record, I'm a socialist, lib'rul vegetarian, but I do look forward to biting into some savory, artificially grown, low carbon-footprint baby-back ribs, for which no animal suffered.
posted by whatgorilla at 10:17 PM on November 11, 2009

(Data point: Liberal, and the first kitchen tool I bought for my first grown-up apartment was an apple corer, even before a nice knife. They're so fun!)
posted by lisa g at 10:51 PM on November 11, 2009

This is fucking ridiculous. Case in point : nobody just sits down and chomps a bowl of arugula. Even the most Volvo-driving, sushi-eating limosine liberal eats it with a bowl of mixed greens such as mesclum, endive, or lettuce frisee -- all of which sound even more effete than arugula.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:19 AM on November 12, 2009

There was a restaurant me and my friends went to just because of their arugula plate. Arugula, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and some nominal amount of red onions.

Granted, we would order their signature plate after that ("roadkill chicken"), but that was just for completeness, the main reason was always the arugula.

But then we're talking about Brazil, where arugula is eaten roughly the same as spinach is eaten in the US.
posted by qvantamon at 12:26 AM on November 12, 2009

Metafilter: even more effete than arugula.
posted by jquinby at 5:32 AM on November 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

The best revenge is living well.
posted by chillmost at 5:39 AM on November 12, 2009

As someone relatively well-versed in design of experiments, I suggest that this study is a shining example of "looking so hard for a particular answer that you can't help but find it."
posted by Ella Fynoe at 6:02 AM on November 12, 2009

Conservatives eat an awful lot of kid food. And so do I. I guess Glen Beck and I finally have something in common. (Seriously: I'm with the conservatives on everything but Girl Scout cookies and the only person I could be defined as to the "right" of would be Ghandi.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:21 AM on November 12, 2009

I'm liberal.

I've eaten arugula, but only in a pasta sauce I made myself.

I have indeed made coconut milk curry -- although I prefer the coconut-milk peanut chicken recipe I've had before. But both of those have taken a back seat to lo mein in terms of "asian recipes I make at home". And all of those have lately taken a back seat to "dammit I want jambalaya now" or "jesus I have a ton of beets let me get some borscht going" to "screw it, potato soup and a salad" or "there was a deal on mushrooms let me make a mushroom omlette" to "screw it, I'll grab a frozen pizza".

Cosi and Pret a Manger are too expensive for me.

I have never spent more than 5 dollars on cheese in my life. I even once MADE cheese instead of buying it (some mozzarella, it wasn't bad). I've also made butter in a pinch (I only needed a tablespoon for a baby apple crisp, I had the cream, and I have an electric whisk).

I think if they'd talked to me, I'd have made the computer tabulating these results blow up out of confusion.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:52 AM on November 12, 2009

Why did I click on the link? Why am I even reading this?
posted by scratch at 7:39 AM on November 12, 2009

The idea of a conservative vegan or even vegetarian is weird. I thought they ate meat out of sheer spite if nothing else.

You know who else was a right-leaning vegetarian, don't you...?
posted by acb at 8:19 AM on November 12, 2009

Oh. I forgot to look at the title of this post.

"What would Michelle Bachmann eat?"

Babies. The answer we were looking for is Babies.
posted by jefficator at 8:32 AM on November 12, 2009

I'm glad to discover that conservatives and liberals both agree that food is delicious.
posted by sciurus at 8:59 AM on November 12, 2009

Why would anyone need an apple corer? You can core an apple with a knife.
posted by jb at 9:12 AM on November 12, 2009

Why did I click on the link? Why am I even reading this?
posted by scratch at 7:39 AM on November 12 [+] [!]

Is it the same reason you're commenting?
posted by regicide is good for you at 9:40 AM on November 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

Does anyone else daydream about eating an entire head of iceberg lettuce in its giant ball state? ...No? Um, me neither.
posted by spec80 at 9:49 AM on November 12, 2009

for those asking about those apple corer/peeler things -

1) an apple corer is great for when you want to stuff an apple with raisins and oatmeal and butter, and drizzle syrup on it and bake it. Leaves a nice hole that's hard to get with a knife (I always end up splitting the apple in half and its just not the same)

2) a corer/peeler is perfect for when you've got bushels and bushels of apples you are prepping in a church basement kitchen for apple dumplings you then drizzle with syrup and serve to hungry people who have wandered in because of the amazing smell in the air...

Great. Now I'm hungry.
posted by sandraregina at 10:31 AM on November 12, 2009

Oh, and I want to know what's up with those so-called 'salads' which are basically just quartered heads of iceberg lettuce drizzled with dressing. That's not a salad! Its just saucy lettuce!
posted by sandraregina at 10:33 AM on November 12, 2009

DO NOT DIS THE ICEBERG WEDGE. IT IS THE FINEST USE OF ICEBERG LETTUCE IN ALL THE LAND, AND THE PERFECT PRECURSOR TO A RARE STEAK. I WILL BROOK NO DISAGREEMENT ON THIS ISSUE.
posted by dersins at 10:38 AM on November 12, 2009

Anyway, I thought conservatives used guns to core apples?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:15 AM on November 12, 2009

Liberals not knowing what an apple corer is, when they're more likely to cook and bake a cake from scratch and eat fruits and vegetables and avoid fast food, was just weird to me.

I think that's an old-fashioned apple corer, maybe? I wouldn't have thought apple corer either. It looks like a vice. I'm more familiar with this style of corer.

I think that question targets age more than anything. If we assume conservatives to generally be older, that response makes sense.

I also usually eat the core. Or, if baking, like someone said, I use a knife, cut it in 4 and slice out the core.

I also thought this quiz was a hoax as well. I would not be surprised if the results were made up.

Does anyone else daydream about eating an entire head of iceberg lettuce in its giant ball state?

Daydream? I've done it.

I also love arugula.
posted by mrgrimm at 11:30 AM on November 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have one of those apple peeler/corers. It's quite useful for making several apple pies or a big batch of apple crisp. I like the country kitchen, cilantro and arugula.

I liked the left/right infographic, too. Correllation may not equal causation, but it sure is interesting/pretty.
posted by theora55 at 4:22 PM on November 12, 2009

Anyway, I thought conservatives used guns to core apples?

No, that was William Burroughs.
posted by jonmc at 4:37 PM on November 12, 2009 [1 favorite]