This year’s White House contest seats dinner in the middle of politics, and it’s not all steak and cheeseburger talk, either. Vegetarian eats have a prominent spot on the menu this campaign cycle.

For years, plant-based food references have simmered around the edges of campaigns. This summer, though, the stew began to boil over and push candidates to talk about vegetarianism — whether they want to or not.

In July, Usha Vance introduced her husband, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, to the crowd at the Republican National Convention, saying, “Although he’s a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food from my mother — Indian food.”

Usha Vance elicited a lone “whoop” when she called herself a “vegetarian,” while her mention of Indian food generated polite applause. Afterwards her comment led to speculation about Vance’s culinary orientation, causing the senator’s local newspaper The Columbus Dispatch to ask: “Is JD Vance a vegetarian?”

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, shown in August with his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance ordering ice cream in Eau Claire, Wis. Usha Vance is a vegetarian. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The answer is no, but his wife is. Vance is more likely among the growing ranks of American flexitarians, who eat meat but also regularly eat plant-based, vegetarian meals. Since Vance is a millennial, his appreciation for vegetarian food and diverse cuisine is not surprising. Yet as the No. 2 candidate on the Republican ticket, Vance’s affinity for vegetarian food creates cultural friction. The Los Angeles Times summed up the situation Vance faces as “the politics of vegetarianism in a red-meat Republican Party.”

Vegetarians (and flexitarians) come in all political stripes, but multiple surveys have found that more Democrats self-report as vegans and vegetarians than Republicans do, which explains why Democratic strongholds, such as Portland, tend to have more vegetarians than majority Republican cities and towns.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump eats pizza with firefighters in Waukee, Iowa, in January. The question of diets has entered the presidential race. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

The tension between hamburgers and veggie burgers was on display in the spring in Wisconsin, where the college town of Milwaukee tilts Democratic, while the surrounding Waukesha County tilts Republican. Former president and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivered mixed vegetarian messages at a rally in the Waukesha County Exposition Center in April, calling attention to the food served at Milwaukee vegan restaurant Gray Jett Cafe and inviting owner Shana Gray on stage.

Mispronouncing the v-word, Trump told the crowd, “It’s supposed to be really good. I’m not into the vay-gun stuff, I must say, but I’m going to have to try this. When we come here in a short period of time, into Milwaukee, we’re going to come and try that vay-gun food. I don’t know if I’m going to like it.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wasted no time after the rally, overnighting a package of vegan products, including burgers, chicken and jerky. The package also contained Oreos, the accidentally vegan cookies that junk-food fan Trump admits to loving but says he has been boycotting since 2015 after parent company Nabisco moved jobs to Mexico from a Chicago bakery.

Talking about vegan food is new territory for Trump. But he’s in his comfort zone talking about meat bans. During the 2020 presidential race, Trump’s campaign shared a YouTube video with a title that claims Vice President Kamala Harris wants to “reduce the amount of red meat you can eat.” The clip shows a woman asking then-Senator Harris whether she would support lowering the recommended daily meat consumption in the national dietary guidelines in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture, and Harris says, yes.

The video is taken from a 2019 CNN town hall program about climate change. After Harris’ sudden rise to the top of the Democratic ticket, meat bans jumped back on the talking-points menu. Last month, the National Shooting Sports Foundation referenced the YouTube video in a get-out-the-vote post titled “What hunters need to know about Vice President Harris’ red meat restriction ruse.” Around the same time, Americans for Tax Reform pointed to the video as evidence “that heavy-handed climate activism will permeate a Harris administration.”

While Harris has never indicated she supports a ban on animal-based meat, an actual policy proposal of Harris’ to impose a federal ban on price gouging among all food processors has taken heat from the Meat Institute and the National Chicken Council, among other food industry players. Both pushed back at the idea that corporate greed was fueling high meat prices, instead blaming inflation and other factors.

Another Harris archival quote, this one from 2018 in The Cut, is also making a comeback. In the interview Harris described her morning routine, saying, “I usually stand at my kitchen counter eating some kind of raisin bran in almond milk while I look at my schedule for the day. It’s the generic raisin bran that I get from the grocery store – I try to not have a lot of sugar in it.”

When Tasting Table wrote about Harris’ cereal preferences this summer, it headlined the story, “Kamala Harris’ Usual Breakfast Is Generic But So Relatable.”

Harris has embraced plant-based food on multiple occasions, most famously in 2021 when she visited Las Vegas vegan restaurant Tacotarian to order lunch. Harris told the restaurant staff she followed the Vegan Before 6, or VB6, eating style popularized by food writer Mark Bittman. VB6 adherents eat vegan until 6 p.m., then add in moderate amounts of animal-based foods in the evening.

Even with her fondness for veg food, Harris is not a vegetarian, since she orders cheeseburgers from Ghostburger in Washington, D.C., and shares recipes for roasted chicken. At the Democratic National Convention in August and in a recent television ad, Harris and her supporters have highlighted her work as a McDonald’s employee.

While in Phoenix for a rally this summer, Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stopped at Mexican restaurant Cocina Adamex and ordered tamales and vegetarian bean burritos, while the pair joked about the governor’s low tolerance for spicy food. Walz made a separate stop during the visit to bagel shop Stoop Kid, where he ordered a breakfast bagel with a fried egg, fried Spam and American cheese.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz visits the Minnesota State Fair in September. Walz’s daughter is a vegetarian. Clay Masters/Minnesota Public Radio via AP

Then there is the Minnesota State Fair video. In the clip with his daughter Hope, which Gov. Walz shared on social media, Walz enthusiastically mentions the corndogs the pair will enjoy after sampling the rides. That’s when his Generation Z offspring reminds him that she’s a vegetarian. To which he responds, “turkey, then,” causing Hope to point out (in a tone of voice familiar to all vegetarians who’ve ever had a similar conversation with their fathers) that “turkey’s meat.” This prompts Walz to declare, “Not in Minnesota. Turkey’s special!”

What I find special this election season is that whichever set of candidates voters choose in November, the new administration will bring vegetarian family members to the vice presidential residence. Could Tofurky at the White House Thanksgiving be next? Stranger things have happened.

Avery Yale Kamila is a food writer who lives in Portland. She can be reached at avery.kamila@gmail.com.