HUFFINGTON
09.09.12
FOOD FIGHT!
drink French wine by the glass or
go to a tapas bar I can’t afford,”
said Kris Lefler, 31, at a recent
Romney rally in High Point, N.C.
“Looking like a caveman while
eating barbecue isn’t acceptable
either,” she said.
CARNAL INSTINCTS
That potential voters are possessed of such opinions is not
new, and food has long been incorporated into the signaling of
American politics. As far back as
the 18th century, Southern politicians threw rowdy election barbecues to “treat” voters to free rum,
whisky and roasted pig in order
to secure their support, according
to Robert F. Moss, a food writer
and author of the book Barbecue:
The History of an American Institution. At the all-day outdoor
parties, attended by hundreds or
thousands traveling on horseback,
candidates jumped on literal tree
stumps to give speeches. During
the mid-19th century, politicians
such as Andrew Jackson used the
events to curry favor with rural, uneducated farmers recently
awarded suffrage.
Today, barbecue joints still sit
alongside diners and ice cream
parlors on the shrine of populist
“The sheer
meatiness of a
BBQ feast can help
create the image
of someone who
doesn’t mind getting
their hands dirty
or blanch at the
sight of blood.”
eateries that politicians worship.
If the 24-hour diner symbolizes
working class prosperity and industriousness, the red meat of barbecue roars with carnal instinct.
Both Obama and Lyndon B.
Johnson have used military barbecues to present themselves as
gutsy and approachable commanders and chiefs in times
of war, according to Andrew
Warnes, a reader in American
Studies at the University of
Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. “The sheer meatiness of
a barbecue feast can help create the image of someone who
doesn’t mind getting his hands
dirty or blanch at the sight of