My fellow Americans:
Salute these real recipes from real congresspeople, recreated with love and fear by me.
Do not try these at home.
Salute these real recipes from real congresspeople, recreated with love and fear by me.
Do not try these at home.
Cookin’ with Congress started with a discovery at my girlfriend’s grandmother’s house. Sitting in her rocking chair, twirling her feet around at age 90, she suddenly pulled out an old 1989 South Dakota Bicentennial Cookbook, handed it to me and said, “isn’t this a trip?”
The infamous South Dakota Centennial Cookbook
I was in love. Real recipes submitted by real senators, congresspeople, mayors, governors and even the President of the United States. And they were all…horrible.
Inspired by that initial disgust, I’m now on a mission to recreate and taste every strange recipe and favorite food from a politician: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Will I get sick?
Maybe.
Will I learn something about America along the way?
Probably.
Will it prove the need for term limits?
Definitely.
With a growing audience, appearances on NPR, NBC Los Angeles, Yahoo, and a growing appetite to learn more about the daily diets and wild logic behind political eating habits, Cookin’ with Congress is just gettin’ started.
I’m a writer, storyteller and home chef with a professional mixology background and an enormous political cookbook collection. I’ve presented at colleges and universities on the complicated nexus of politicians and food, been interviewed on the topic for The Los Angeles Times and other outlets, and since 2020, have recreated 200+ favorite foods and homespun recipes by politicians. But mostly, when I was six years old I wanted to be President of the United States and a chef at the same time. So here we are.
—Bennett Rea
