President Obama’s favorite food is …. broccoli?? (VIDEO)

GlobalPost
The World

What do you think is President Barack Obama's favorite food?

Pizza? Cheeseburgers? Or maybe the donuts he was fond of buying for campaign workers during his 2012 bid for the White House?

Nope.

Crashing a Kids' State Dinner hosted by the first lady at the White House on Tuesday, Obama told children who had won a healthy recipe contest that he loves to munch on broccoli the most.

That's right. Broccoli.

It's a vegetable many love to hate and certainly the bane of former President George H.W. Bush's existence.

More than 20 years ago, Bush drew criticism for declaring he didn't like broccoli and wasn't going to eat it anymore.

"I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm president of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli!" he said in 1990.

Feathers deeply ruffled, broccoli growers shipped thousands of pounds of broccoli to the White House in protest, and the vegetable was farmed out to homeless shelters as a result.

During the 2012 campaign, Scholastic cited Obama's favorite foods as chili, French fries and pork chops.

Hmm. Perhaps this newfound love of broccoli comes from different ways of preparing it?

"[In] my family, when they cooked vegetables, they were all boiled,” Obama said, adding that he has since learned that healthy foods can taste good as well.

Will you support The World with a monthly donation?

Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!