This Is What Hillary Clinton Eats

Depending on who you ask, Hillary Rodham Clinton is either the most, or second-most, divisive figure in contemporary U.S. politics. A martyr for liberals, a demon for conservatives, a tiresome relic of the status quo for the left; it seems that pretty much everyone in America — and no few people beyond — have their own opinion about Hillary nowadays. Perhaps you do, too, and that's great. Well done. But take it to The Washington Post, yeah? We're here for something else.

Yes, Hillary eats. A significant proportion of the voting public does, in fact, concede that Hillary is a human being, and one crucial part of the process of life happens to be the consumption of food and drink for the purposes of turning it into energy. Trump does it. The Pope does it. Hillary does it. And when she's not stirring up trouble or literally saving the world (again, depends who you ask), this is what she eats.

Much of what Hillary, and her family, eats comes down to the guidance of one Dr. Mark Hyman. On the 30th wedding anniversary of Hillary and Bill, Hyman was hired by the Clintons to help Bill start a new path after his quadruple bypass surgery. Hyman has, in his tenure as an advisor to the Clintons, managed to wean Bill off his vegan diet (suggesting lean proteins and fish be included in his eating habits), aided the family in their dietary options, and even discussed and offered counsel on wider topics such as childhood obesity in America.

Hyman, a family doctor from Idaho, has worked with people from across the social strata, from world leaders and celebrities to the urban poor in North Carolina. His ethos is one of "functional medicine" — that is, treating chronic diseases through major lifestyle changes, rather than prescribing traditional treatments and medicines. It's a fair bet to assume that most of what appears on Hillary's plates has been influenced by this man.

During the 2016 election campaign, People magazine sat down with various candidates to ask them some quick-fire questions to share some lightweight information on their day-to-day lives. During their interview with Clinton, she revealed that her breakfast usually consists of well-done scrambled eggs. While not exactly pushing the boat out, flavor-wise, scrambled eggs do contain plenty of protein, vitamins, selenium and choline, although they're also pretty high in cholesterol. We're not sure Dr. Hyman would approve.

While we're at it, these interviews also revealed that Hillary's breakfast of choice is shared by Democrat rival Bernie Sanders. Rubio opts for his eggs hard-boiled, while Ted Cruz has his in a sandwich from McDonald's, and Jeb Bush (remember him?) eschews eggs altogether, opting instead for a banana and a cup of coffee. Trump usually skips breakfast, but when he does eat it, his eggs come with bacon on the side.

While her chief rival — you know who we mean — is famously quite the fan of McDonald's, Hillary's usual choice of burger is along slightly healthier, more ethical lines. In 2007, Hillary told reporters that the food she most recalls from her origins in Illinois was the Oliveburger, served at the Pickwick, a Greek coffee shop near her old high school. According to the cafe, it's basically a beef sirloin burger with a topping of chopped, pimento-stuffed green olives.

Nowadays, however, Hillary opts for Boca Burgers, a type of vegetarian burger made from soy protein and wheat gluten. While we've got to commend her (well, kind of) for her decision to go vegetarian, it is a shame that she seems to have settled for a name-brand option rather than, say, anything higher in quality, or even homemade. And this goes doubly considering her roots — the Oliveburger may not be vegan-friendly, but damn does it sound good.

One of the many, many, many points of contention that stand between Hillary and Trump is their contrasting views on the consumption of alcohol. Whereas the current POTUS (allegedly) never touches a drop, Hillary Clinton is anything but a teetotaler. She appeared at bars and breweries during the campaign trail in 2016 and, when going toe-to-toe with Obama in 2008, she and the future President attempted to woo blue-collar voters by, essentially, embarking on a bar crawl against each other.

She seems to be a fan of wine — her grape of choice is Chardonnay and she admitted in her tell-all memoir, What Happened, that she consoled herself post-election with a glass of red (and Martha Stewart's mac and cheese, whilst watching Gilmore Girls). Elsewhere, she's been spotted enjoying beer and has even knocked back a shot or two in public from time to time. So she's not exactly prudish, then.

Life on the campaign trail isn't easy, and, when candidates aren't eating for the cameras at planned stops and media appearances, they're often left little time to eat at all. What Happened covers, among other things, Hillary's eating habits while out on the road during the 2016 election.

Over the 600-odd days she spent trying to woo the country to her side, she'd eat that scrambled egg breakfast (usually from a hotel's room service), consumed food as healthy as she could on her campaign plane (thanks to the efforts of a flight attendant named Liz who brought homemade meals for the staff) and kept a hefty supply of snacks by her side. These included goldfish crackers, KIND bars, Quest bars and canned salmon. "It's funny how much you look forward to the next meal when you're living out of a suitcase," she wrote of that time. 

One of Hillary's most well-known habits is her propensity towards hot food and chili peppers. According to that People interview, she began eating jalapenos on the '92 campaign trail and hasn't stopped since. And that's no exaggeration either, since, according to The Washington Post, she actually eats a hot pepper every single day. She's got a collection of her own hot sauces (including sriracha, Tabasco, tomatillo and others) and swears by their ability to keep the immune system healthy. Her favorite sauce is Ninja Squirrel, a Whole Foods sriracha, but she also eats one fresh chili a day to keep up her folic acids and vitamins.

Possibly crossing the line into "a little bit weird" territory, Hillary actually claims to keep a bottle of Ninja Squirrel in her handbag so it's readily available wherever she goes. Oh, and during the Clinton Administration, the White House stocked over 100 bottles of hot sauce at any one time. Hillary Clinton really likes chilies.

The snacking doesn't end with the hot stuff, though. Delish revealed during the election campaign that, as well as jalapenos, Hillary also counts hummus, mocha cake, DOVE bars, and ice cream bars among her favorite snacks to keep her going. She indulged in mocha cake after Bill Clinton's scandalous affair with Monica Lewinsky was revealed during the '90s and is said to be able to get ice cream bars on demand. Her love of hummus, unsurprisingly enough, was revealed after her private emails were made public in 2016.

An email from her childhood friend Betsy Ebeling in 2011 raising concerns about the company Sabra (who make Hummus) holding ties to the Israeli military was met with a declaration from Hillary that she "loves" Sabra hummus. Not exactly the response you'd expect, but, then again, it was a private email. Well — kind of. Let's not get into that one.

Hillary, as state senator for New York, accrued a number of favorite haunts and eating spots during her time in office. In a 2016 article for Thrillist, she detailed a few of the very best of them. Counted on the list were Defazio's Pizzeria, a small, family eatery in Little Italy; Gianelli Sausage, which pretty much does what it says on the sign; Syracuse's Dinosaur Bar-B-Que; and the Savoy, another Italian (she seems to like them!).

In terms of smaller spots, we've got Charlie the Butcher's, a kitchen in Buffalo; Lange's Little Store for coffee and sandwiches; Northern Lights Creamery for gelato; and the Fox Run winery for a drop of the good stuff. Also included is Rao's, a restaurant in Harlem that's notorious for its exclusivity. The full list is really quite extensive, and if there's one thing you can say for Hillary, it's that she really does know New York.

Perhaps as a carry-over from her love of all things spicy, it seems that Hillary is also quite the fan of Indian food. For her, it's a form of comfort: she ate a veritable feast of it after her testimony during the 2015 Benghazi probe, and ate it frequently on the campaign trail in 2016. The Clinton family has a few connections to India — Bill holds a strong friendship with Dr. Deepak Chopra, a "guru" of alternative medicine, while Sikh entrepreneur Lata Krishnan credits herself for introducing Bill (and the rest of the family) to Indian cuisine. According to her, Bill first learned to love it at a fundraiser in Manhattan's Bombay Palace. It stands to reason that Hillary — who herself has more than a few friends hailing from India's high-flying business scene — began to savor it very shortly afterwards. We'd hazard a guess that those curries aren't exactly going to be mild, either.

Life on the campaign trail — hell, life when you can afford pretty much anything you want to eat — is a dangerous one, health-wise. It's all too easy to fall into any number of bad eating habits, as many previous occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will surely tell you. Hillary Clinton, however, has managed to endure all this while not only not gaining weight, but actually losing it, too. The secret? One simple mantra: "if it looks bad for you, it's probably bad for you".

And, OK, so that mantra comes in tandem with yoga, regular exercise, a strict diet and fitness regimen, the constant stress induced by sleepless nights and intense political pressure and a regular intake of raw jalapenos. Oh, not to mention that actual indulgences — like that feast of Indian food post-testimony, which included copious amounts of wine and beer — are a serious rarity. But that's all easily done, right?