What Bernie Sanders Really Eats

Bernie Sanders, the Independent U.S. senator from Vermont and former two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is, famously, a singular politician. It stands to reason that his reluctance to play by the rules of the political establishment might be reflected in unique food preferences. As it turns out, this is somewhat true — while Sanders' diet isn't all that unusual for the most part, some of his food habits do reflect, for example, his commitment to small businesses as well as his upbringing in a community that included Jewish immigrants from Poland.

Since a large part of a politician's job is to relate to the masses, details about Sanders' culinary preferences are pretty abundant. After all, virtually every single member of the American voting public has thoughts about food. On the whole, Sanders incorporates plenty of American staples into his everyday meals while indulging in various delicacies from time to time, particularly when eating out. The following are the foods, drinks, and restaurants that define what Sanders actually eats, both when he's at home and while he's on the campaign trail.

In April 2016, when Bernie Sanders was actively campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, The Washington Post published a profile of him that revolved almost entirely around his culinary likes and dislikes. A couple of Sanders' family members shared numerous details with the news outlet — many of which were new to the public at that time — about his diet at home and on the road. Sanders' everyday, at-home breakfast, for instance, is usually Raisin Bran, accompanied by cherry juice and an English muffin.

On the campaign trail, Sanders' breakfasts are a little less routine. In his rotation are omelets, pancakes, and sometimes bacon. In 2020, Sanders' staff would even prepare three distinct breakfast menus every morning for the senator and his family, according to a profile by the Burlington Free Press. But Raisin Bran still seems to be the MVP of Sanders' breakfast time. His wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, even joked about his affinity for cereal when the Burlington Free Press asked about his interest or lack thereof in fad diets. "Can you imagine Bernie doing that, really?" she replied. "He'd say, 'Just give me my cereal.' "

Support for small businesses is a pillar of Bernie Sanders' political platform. When it comes to the food he keeps at home, Sanders practices what he preaches — plenty of his meat and produce, according to The Washington Post, comes from local farms. One of Sanders' favorite ways to prepare meat is on his home grill. He's also been known to cook a chicken and veggie stir-fry. Based on a couple different characterizations of the senator, he eats quite a bit of meat. His daughter-in-law Carina Driscoll told People that he eats so much meat, in fact, "he was Paleo before Paleo was a thing."

Meanwhile, not only does Sanders patronize local farms for his produce, but he also keeps up with whatever's in season. Sanders and his wife even gifted their kids with community-supported agriculture shares for Christmas one year. Also known as CSA, this is a system through which community members pay, often on a subscription basis, for a "share" of a local farm. In exchange, they receive regular shipments of produce. In response to a question about whether or not Sanders is a foodie, Driscoll replied that he isn't necessarily picky about what he eats but does, notably, care about where his food originates.

For a variety of reasons, healthfulness significantly affects what Bernie Sanders chooses to eat. Even in 2016, Sanders was making a conscious effort to eliminate certain indulgent treats from his diet. But then, in 2019, he suffered a heart attack, and a healthy diet became even more important to his longevity. For a piece about how his lifestyle changed in the wake of his heart attack, Sanders' campaign manager Faiz Shakir told The New York Times in 2019 that the senator started prioritizing fish over beef for dinner in an attempt to eat healthier. He started ordering fish at restaurants with more regularity as well.

The Burlington Free Press likewise reported on Sanders' habit of enjoying fish for dinner around that time. He most frequently opted for salmon then, and in what was presumably another health initiative, would sub out regular French fries for sweet potato fries. But are sweet potato fries any healthier than regular fries? Not really. Still, even if land-based meats are likely his preference, it seems that he's replacing them with fish more often than not for the sake of his well-being.

During his 2016 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders got help from his family to revamp the sorts of foods available to him. Around the start of the campaign, as members of his family detailed to The Washington Post, he was fond of late-night desserts — cheesecake, for example. So, to keep him in good shape on the road, they started surrounding him with healthier alternatives. One cornerstone of this initiative was the addition of plenty of fruit to his snack lineup.

At an Iowa hotel in February 2016, for example, the Sanders team enjoyed a spread of turkey sandwiches, pineapple, and strawberries. On a flight around that time, Sanders opted for a blueberry smoothie. Oranges were among a few healthy snacks around at pretty much all times. Jane O'Meara Sanders told the Burlington Free Press that the availability of heathy snacks and fruits started declining over the years. But after his heart attack in 2019, fruits once again became one of the team's go-to bites for Sanders. Specifically, tangerines and apples, as well as almonds, were often on-hand during that stage of his political career.

Ask a random American to name celebrities from Vermont, and they'll probably include Bernie Sanders and/or the famed ice cream-making team of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. It shouldn't come as a huge surprise then that Ben and Jerry, as they're more commonly known, are longtime fans of the Vermont senator with whom they share their home state as well as their political leanings.

During Sanders' 2016 campaign, Cohen released a limited-edition run of 50 pints of a boutique ice cream flavor he called Bernie's Yearning. The pint contained plain mint ice cream topped with a thin layer of chocolate, the juxtaposition intended to represent wealth inequality. Sanders found this flavor "wonderful," according to The Washington Post. Sanders' enjoyment of Cohen and Greenfield's ice cream dates back to at least 1981, when Sanders was elected mayor of Burlington and enlisted Cohen and Greenfield to scoop ice cream at his victory party. Almost 40 years later, in 2020, Cohen graduated from ice cream-scooper to become one of four co-chairs of Sanders' presidential campaign.

One key food-oriented stop on Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign was New York City's Coney Island. Of course, the institution most synonymous with dining on Coney Island is the iconic Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs — a restaurant known not just for creating its Coney Island hot dogs or prepackaged grocery stores dogs but also playing host to the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, won by Patrick Bertoletti in 2024.

During his visit, Sanders sat down with his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, and '80s alternative rock icon Michael Stipe of R.E.M. fame. Stipe, for what it's worth, had just introduced a rally for the Sanders campaign on the Coney Island boardwalk that same day. While downing a Nathan's dog with mustard and sauerkraut, Sanders revealed these to be his hot dog toppings of choice. Sanders grew up among Polish Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, and mustard and sauerkraut are common on Polish-style hot dogs. Meanwhile, his spouse sticks to the basics and prefers ketchup, sometimes accompanied by onions.

Public accounts of his alcohol habits suggest that Bernie Sanders isn't a big drinker. And it's definitely healthier to forgo alcohol altogether. But when he does indulge in an alcoholic drink, his Washington Post profile revealed, he prefers red wine — specifically pinot noir. 

For what it's worth, Sanders has a bit of a history with beer too, but seemingly more for promotional reasons than his own satisfaction. In 2015, for example, Sanders posed with a can of The Alchemists' Heady Topper, a critically acclaimed IPA from Vermont that's among 40 of the best beers you should be drinking. There's no indication Sanders actually drank from that can of Heady Topper, but he is, nevertheless, aware of the product that plenty of beer connoisseurs most closely associate with his home state. The following year, he sipped from a bottle of Budweiser on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." He then joked that the act would win him South Carolina, once again suggesting beer isn't a part of his usual lifestyle but something he'll enjoy on occasion to relate to constituents.

Put simply, Bernie Sanders is an octogenarian who lives in Burlington, Vermont. It's hardly surprising, then, that the restaurants he's known to have frequented when not on the road are his hometown's older establishments. Some local favorites he shared in 2016 with The Washington Post, for example, included what was then a 35-year-old institution called Sweetwaters — now closed — a decades-old Chinese spot called A Single Pebble, and an Indian restaurant called India House that opened in the '80s (which has also since closed).

During Sanders' 2020 run to be the Democratic presidential nominee, meanwhile, the Burlington Free Press revealed the restaurants patronized most by the Sanders campaign. In the No. 1 spot was a local Mexican restaurant called El Gato Cantina. Another notable entry on the list was an older pizza place called Mr. Mike's Pizza. Finally, a Burlington Italian restaurant called Bove's Café was a regular spot for Sanders for decades, and its namesake even had some influence on Sanders' early political career. Bove's Café is now closed as well, but even if the restaurant landscape of his hometown is constantly changing, his affinity for its home-grown dining scene has remained constant.

While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders notoriously struggled to appeal to Black voters compared to some of his Democratic primary opponents. During his 2016 campaign in particular, in what was assuredly an effort to reverse this trend, Sanders made a habit of stopping at soul food restaurants in or around African-American communities.

First, in September 2015, Larry Wilmore from "The Nightly Show" hosted Sanders in what he called a Soul Food Sit-Down. They talked politics while enjoying a variety of dishes at New York City's Southern Hospitality BBQ. The following month Sanders joined rapper Killer Mike for a meal at Atlanta's Busy Bee Cafe, which is among, hands down, the best fried chicken places in America. Then, in February 2016, Sanders joined Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem, New York. Each of these meetups may have been politically expedient for Sanders, but their regularity made soul food at least a temporary cornerstone of his diet on the campaign trail all the same.

Both Bernie Sanders' father and one of his grandparents on his mother's side were Jewish immigrants from Poland. Many of his present-day dietary habits and favorite foods are not necessarily Jewish or Polish, save for his preferred hot dog toppings. But he is on the record as being a fan of a bagel with lox, as Jane O'Meara Sanders detailed to The Washington Post. Presumably his ideal bagel includes a generous schmear as well.

While the bagel is famously a favorite food of the Jewish diaspora, its origins can be traced back to Jewish communities in Poland. As the story goes, Polish law restricted Jews from baking bread, forcing them to invent a way to boil bread, so to speak. It stands to reason that Sanders would have been around bagels plenty growing up in a community of Jewish immigrants from Poland. Lox, for what it's worth, isn't as intrinsically linked to Jewish history, but it did become a favorite in the United States starting in the early 1900s as an alternative to salt-preserved herring.

Ben and Jerry's may be the No. 1 food brand from Vermont, but when it comes to a straight up Vermont food, it's maple syrup, rather than ice cream, that's synonymous with the state. It should hardly come as a surprise that, as perhaps the state's most iconic politician, Bernie Sanders is a fan of maple syrup. But only if he has access to the real stuff.

The true difference between maple syrup and pancake syrup is that the former is pure, cooked-down maple tree sap, whereas the latter is a mixture of processed ingredients like corn syrup, caramel coloring, and more. Jane O'Meara Sanders revealed this particular proclivity to the Burlington Free Press while discussing the senator's breakfast preferences. While he keeps his breakfasts pretty healthy and routine at home — as previously mentioned, Raisin Bran, English muffins, and cherry juice — on the road is when he introduces some occasional morning indulgences to his diet. One of his go-to foods is blueberry pancakes, if and only if he has access to real maple syrup.

Before he ever stepped foot in Vermont, Bernie Sanders was a thoroughbred New Yorker. His parents lived in Brooklyn when he was born, and he remained local to the borough through high school and for one year of college. One way Sanders remains a true New Yorker, regardless of where he calls home in the present day, is how he eats his pizza.

Sanders was asked about his pizza technique on at least two occasions during his 2016 campaign. These inquiries were in response to a discourse that inevitably arose after Ohio Gov. John Kasich — who was competing in the Republican primary at that time — ate a slice of pizza with a knife and fork during a campaign stop in New York. Shortly after that incident, Sanders appeared as a guest on "The View." There, he talked about his affinity for old-school New York subway tokens, before a member of the show's production staff brought out a classic New York pie. Sanders understood the assignment, not only approaching his slice sans utensils, but folding it across its Y-axis in the classic New York style.

During presidential election years, the Iowa State Fair becomes an obligatory campaign stop for almost every major candidate competing for the nomination. While the overall gist of this tradition is an attempt at relating to Midwestern Americans, the most important decision that candidates must make during their visit is their choice of fair food. Like at any good State Fair, the food at Iowa's annual spectacle ranges from relatively indulgent, like a classic hamburger, to blatantly overindulgent, like a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Early on, the 2020 Democratic primary field consisted of a sizable number of candidates, and by the time the Iowa State Fair rolled around in August 2019, a good six or seven were still in contention. Some, like businessman Andrew Yang, went a little unconventional — he ordered two whole turkey legs for his food photo-op that day. Then-California Sen. Kamala Harris aimed for relatability and flipped her own burgers. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, stuck with the most classic fair food of all: the corn dog. As reported by Eater, when Sanders was asked what he thought of his Iowa State Fair corn dog, he replied, "I'd like to make an announcement: pretty good!"