Super Bowl party foods can deliver political bite – choose wisely
What you serve at your Super Bowl party, or what the host serves at the event you attend, can now be interpreted, or twisted, through a partisan lens.
- What you serve at your Super Bowl party, or what the host serves at the event you attend, can now be interpreted, or twisted, through a partisan lens.
- At times, the issues that erupt into political skirmishes are the result of fanciful conspiratorial thinking, blatant misinformation or just the personal preferences of political leaders.
- These conflicts also make it harder to have fun in mixed political company, and harder to steer clear of accidentally offending someone at your Super Bowl party.
An eye on Bud Light
- Bud Light has long been one of the nation’s most popular beers.
- In April 2023, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a video to Instagram promoting a Bud Light contest.
- By June 2023, Bud Light was no longer the nation’s best-selling beer, falling behind Modelo Especial.
Making the nonpolitical political
- We have also found that people’s political preferences are increasingly driven by negative emotions about the other party.
- We surveyed people and asked them about their political views and their food preferences.
- Likewise, Republicans we told about Obama’s preference for chili rated it less favorably than Republicans from whom we kept that information.
Menu planning
- So, when it comes to planning your menu, our research offers some advice.
- For a party of Democrats, chili – possibly with an arugula salad on the side – is a safe bet.
- You could reinforce those choices by accompanying the dishes with photos of the politicians with their favorite dishes.
- Both are foods that appear to be resistant to partisan cues and are well-liked by members of both parties.
- Or maybe just throw a potluck, hope for the best, and you may even learn something new about your guests’ political views.
- That means every cultural gathering, from the Thanksgiving table to the Super Bowl couch, can be invaded by political conflict.
Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz is a fellow at the Brown Policy Lab and has received funding for research projects from the USDA, the Russell Sage Foundation, and other organizations. Joshua J. Dyck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.