Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made healthier eating a centerpiece of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda—but he also says he’ll “literally eat anything.”
The health secretary, who has cast himself as the nation’s food reformer, launched his own cooking show last week built around his “upside down” food pyramid that encourages Americans to eat more protein, vegetables, and healthy fats.
But Kennedy, 72, admitted his own plate may not always follow the food rules he wants Americans to adopt while promoting his new show in an interview with USA Today’s White House correspondent Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy.
“I will literally eat anything. I don’t have uhh, I don’t have umm, I don’t have a gag reflex. Let me put it like that,” Kennedy said when asked about the most exotic food he has tried.
“I will eat anything,” Kennedy repeated—an eyebrow-raising admission from a health secretary who has spent much of his tenure challenging Americans to rethink what they put in their bodies. “And, I’m, uhh, I love experimenting with foods. I love all different kinds of food.”
He continued, “When I travel, I’ll eat, you know, even stuff I find on the street, you know, street vendors.”
The interview took an awkward turn when Ramaswamy asked what foods Kennedy had eaten that “may be gross for others.”
Kennedy laughed sheepishly and looked off to the side before offering a telling response.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “Yeah, I’m getting a signal not to answer that question.”
He added that he has repeatedly failed to go on a vegan diet due to an “atavistic craving for protein.”
The anti-vax conspiracy theorist, who has long drawn controversy for his odd history with dead animals, released new U.S. nutritional guidelines earlier this year saying they would “revolutionize” the nation’s food culture.
“Today, our government declares war on added sugar. Highly processed foods loaded with additives, added sugar and excess salt damage health and should be avoided. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, my message is clear: eat real food,” Kennedy said.
“Nothing matters more for healthcare outcomes, economic productivity, military readiness and fiscal stability.”
He later conceded that he had failed to get President Donald Trump to ditch his Diet Coke and McDonald’s diet, despite having referred to the junk food that the president eats as being “just poison.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy has gotten Vice President JD Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy all hooked on a diet that involves eating vast quantities of sauerkraut, as well as kimchi and grass-fed steak.
The Trump administration is so obsessed with the diet that they talk about it and exchange tips when they meet at the White House, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
