Kamala Harris' Favorite Fast Food Restaurant In College Was A Classic

With Kamala Harris rising to be the new presumptive nominee in the 2024 presidential election, the country is on the verge of many potential firsts. Amid the bigger historical stories, you may have missed one small detail: We may be getting our first modern foodie president. 

Politics and food are frequently intertwined, with local stops at diners and photo-ops at county fairs being a common trope of campaigns, but for Harris, food seems like a natural part of her personal history and identity. The vice president has talked about being an accomplished home cook, how it gives her a refuge from work, and about the influence her Indian immigrant mother's cooking had over her life. She even had a series of cooking videos online as part of her 2020 presidential campaign. And as noted in a Washington Post story about her early life in the nation's capital, her love of food extended to some of the most populist fast food spots in the country.

Harris attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., starting in 1982, and friends of hers from the time recall her as someone who was always thinking about the next meal. One friend, Dallas-based attorney Jill Louis, told the outlet that while Harris loved exploring D.C.'s food scene, Popeye's fried chicken was her favorite if she needed something quick near campus. "You would walk through the snow just to get a taste of that biscuit," Louis recalled.

It's hard to argue with Kamala Harris' taste in fast food, as Popeye's is arguably one of the best places to get fried chicken in the U.S. – an impressive feat for such a big brand. And some of Harris' other D.C. favorites are just as famous. While she would traverse the city for all kinds of comfort food, her friends claim that another haunt was Washington's legendary establishment Ben's Chili Bowl. Harris' late-night orders would consist of a burger or Ben's famous half-smoke, a spicy smoked sausage topped with chili and cheese.

It's not just American fast food that Harris has a soft spot for either. One of her most popular cooking videos from 2019 was with actor Mindy Kaling, where they made masala dosas together. As she does for many of her favorites, Harris credits her mother for her love of these quick Indian pancakes, which have become a universal fast food staple in India and among the Indian diaspora due to their ease of cooking and affordability. In fact, dosa is such a popular convenience food in India that McDonald's even introduced a dosa masala burger in 2019 to mimic the dish's flavor. 

Politicians may try hard to seem relatable through food, but it seems like at least one of them has a genuine love for some of the most popular dishes on the planet.