Why President Obama Disapproved Of An NYT Guacamole Recipe
What do you have to do to a guacamole recipe to get former President Barack Obama's attention? Just recommend adding green peas. This is exactly what New York Times social media editor Michael Gold did in a July 2015 tweet from the publication, and, boy, did it create a stir.
Though Gold was aware of Americans' "intense regional pride" for the Mexican specialty, per the BBC, he seems to have received more impassioned replies to his tweet than he'd bargained for. Gold told the outlet that he truly believed in the recipe and hoped that it would get attention, which is why he shared the recipe on social media just before the Fourth of July.
July 1, 2015 (when the tweet went live), was not a quiet day at the office for the POTUS, as it was an important day for U.S.-Cuba relations, per the White House archives. Still, Obama took time away from his other duties to let The New York Times know how he felt about their unconventional new guacamole recipe.
The #GuacGate debacle
"Add green peas to your guacamole. Trust us," Gold wrote on Twitter behalf of The New York Times (via BBC). The publication's followers certainly did not trust the advice, and they made it known in their comments.
One user suggested that the time had come for the brand to delete their Twitter account, while another accused them of being communists. A disgusted follower even implied that he had canceled his subscription. And just when everybody thought that this was the worst it could get, it got political: The Republican Party of Texas suggested that this meant war between the news syndicate and the GOP.
The highlight of this online fracas, of course, was when Obama weighed in stating that while he did respect The New York Times, he was "not buying" their guacamole idea. He telegraphed the reason for his disapproval in the next sentence of his rather candidly worded tweet. He prefers, it seems, a more classic version with "onions, garlic, [and] hot peppers," per Twitter.