Why Everyone Keeps Talking About The 'Gazpacho Police'

Despite being deep in the midst of the cold winter months, gazpacho, a chilled summertime soup, began trending online this week for an unexpected reason.

The soup-centric controversy began after the Twitter account of The Republican Accountability Project shared a video of Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene mixing up the words "gazpacho" and "Gestapo," the ruthless secret police force of Nazi Germany (via The Washington Post). In the video, Greene, who was giving an interview to the far right news network One America News, attempts to compare the current House leadership to the Nazi police force, saying, "not only do we have the D.C. jail, which is the D.C. gulag, but now we have Nancy Pelosi's gazpacho police spying on members of congress."

The clip of the flub quickly went viral, receiving over 25,000 retweets and causing gazpacho to trend on the social media platform. Numerous public figures weighed in on the comical controversy, such as actor George Takei, who wrote, "Overheard: Marjorie Taylor Greene keeps talking about Nancy Pelosi's 'Gazpacho' and now I want the recipe," and former Department of Defense strategic planner Adam Blickstein, who joked, "With the Gazpacho Police, every crime is a cold case."

Celebrity chef and humanitarian José Andrés also took the opportunity to rib the politician over the culinary flub, tweeting, "Dear [Representative Greene], the Gazpacho police was created by me in 1993 to make sure that no one will add Tabasco or jalapeño or strange things to my beloved soup! Please don't blame anybody else but me... stop by for a glass anytime." The chef concluded the tweet with, "Don't forget your mask and vaccination card!" in a nod to the congresswoman's outspoken criticism — and refusal to receive — the COVID-19 vaccine (via NBC News).

The gazpacho hubbub is far from the first time the controversial congresswoman has landed herself in hot water. Or, in this case, cold soup. Greene has come under fire in the past for making inflammatory remarks about the holocaust and for her viewpoints on vaccines and mask mandates (via CNN).

Following the gazpacho flub, Greene addressed the verbal mix-up, writing, "No soup for those who illegally spy on Members of Congress, but they will be thrown in the goulash," referring another popular soup. If this whole culinary debacle has you craving a bowl of the cool, creamy soup, we've got you covered with thiS fool-proof Basic Gazpacho Recipe.