When former president Donald Trump stopped in to visit Sanaa Convenient Store, a tiny Harlem bodega, last week, he told the crowd that gathered to “have a good time.” As some cheered and broke into chants of “U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A,” he described how he was “way ahead in the polls against Biden” and promised that, as election day nears, he will be doing similar rallies “all over the place.”
With that bodega stop, Trump followed in a long line of politicians who have attempted to use food as a way to bond with constituents by trying local delicacies or visiting neighborhood institutions while on the campaign trail. It’s a relatability ploy that is both genius in its simplicity — food really is a natural connector of people — and dangerous in the way it tends to expose frauds, like when Gerald Ford choked on a tamale husk while campaigning in San Antonio for reelection against Jimmy Carter, a Texas-sized faux pas several political experts believe may have ultimately cost him the 1976 presidency.
