Latest anti-Obama right-wing smear campaign: Dijongate

[Lunar]

What's the most stupid of all about this is that ordering a burger without ketchup a is actually rather populist in many respects.

http://newmajority.com/ShowScroll.aspx?ID=deee68fd-d510-43d1-8b52-656f064b0aa6

Texans traditionally eat hamburgers with mustard or with mayonnaise (or with both), but without ketchup. This is simply called a “hamburger” in Texas, but is sometimes called a “Cowboy Burger” or a “Texas Burger” outside of Texas.

A hamburger with ketchup is sometimes called a “Yankee Burger.” A hamburger with mayonnaise is sometimes called a “Sissy Burger.”
Dirty Martin’s (in Austin since 1926) serves hamburgers with mustard, pickles, onions, and tomatoes, but it is not known when this combination began. The popular Texas “Whataburger” hamburger chain has served hamburgers with mustard from its founding (1950). The hamburger-with-mustard combination in Texas is attested at least from the 1950s, but the pre-1950s hamburger condiments cannot be firmly established.

Second answer: Republicans. A 2000 survey of members of Congress by the National Hot Dog Council found that 73% of Republican lawmakers preferred mustard to ketchup, as opposed to 47% of Democratic lawmakers.

Final answer: traditionalists. Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, the restaurant widely believed to have served the first hamburgers ever made in the United States, absolutely forbids ketchup. 

[Lunar]

Also, if Obama was really a food elitist, would he have really ordered the plain cheddar burger when the restaurant has these options?

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/restaurants/bestbites/8539.html

You can order the patties simply grilled, with a chipotle-spiked “diablo” marinade, blackened Cajun-style, or au poivre with a black-peppercorn crust. Then specify how long you’d like your burger to sit on the grill: “recommended” (with a warm red center), medium (pink), or “cooked throughout.”

For $1 to $5 extra, there’s a lengthy list of cheese options, from classic Vermont white cheddar to artisanal selections such as Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue and decadent Taleggio. Applewood-smoked bacon and guacamole are also offered for a couple of extra bucks.

[Lunar]

Also, if Obama was really a food elitist, would he have really ordered the plain cheddar burger when the restaurant has these options?

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/restaurants/bestbites/8539.html

Yeah, I think he might.  I think most people on here would agree I'm about as elitist as it gets, but for me good taste does not mean burgers with a lot of weird, innovative sh**t on them.   When it comes to food, as in most things traditional is best.

Thailand is full of the most horribly annoying foreigners who go around asking for every dish to be modified in some awful, innovative way.  I hate these people.  The dish is always best as it has been served for generations!  I'm constantly having to stress to Thai restauranteurs here that I want the food 'tamadah' or 'regular', 'sai prik' (put peppers), etc.  I want it precisely as Thai people have eaten it for ages, not how some asshole with money thinks he wants.

I'm not saying I would never try a weird-burger, but if I were the president, and could traipse out into the public to get a burger rarely, I would order the simple, traditional burger similar to what Obama ordered.  And yes, I most definitely would include mustard on the burger and not ketchup.

I personally find Obama to be mostly a man of good taste, both in his culinary and sartorial choices.

Ah, well at least we can agree that if Obama was the stereotype of a food elitist as these fools  are implying, he probably wouldn't have ordered the most basic item on the menu.  Grey poupon is a cheap-ass condiment, probably not what some snobby rich person would use anyhow.

And although I prefer ketchup to mustard myself, I find it amusing that one of them said "What kind of man doesn't use ketchup?" -- as if ketchup isn't actually what's favored by little kids.  *Adults* are far less likely to wish for ketchup.