The fattening state dinner served at the White House on Tuesday night for the president of France might prompt first lady Michelle Obama to tell guests afterward, “Let’s Move.”
They’ll need to burn off a few of the estimated 2,500 calories they’ve just consumed.
Rep. Rodney Davis, Illinois Republican and a critic of the administration’s school lunch requirements, called the high-calorie State Dinner menu “the height of hypocrisy.”
“Even if you’re estimating a small cut of steak, this is a menu where you’re talking 2,500 calories, which is almost three times as much as what the first lady and the USDA allow our school kids to eat in the school lunch program,” Mr. Davis said.
Mr. Davis, who said school districts need more flexibility in their meal options, has introduced a bill that includes the requirement for state dinners and meals served in the White House cafeteria to abide by the same low-calorie guidelines as school lunches.
The menu for the dinner honoring French President Francois Hollande featured a main course of dry-aged ribeye beef served with blue cheese, 12 varieties of potatoes and quail eggs.
SEE ALSO: Obamas welcome French President Hollande to celebrity-studded state dinner
The first course was American Osetra caviar, farmed from sturgeon in estuaries in Illinois, followed by a “winter garden salad.”
Dessert was a selection of sweets: a chocolate malted cake that combined bittersweet chocolate from Hawaii and tangerines from Florida, served with vanilla ice cream made in Pennsylvania. Also on the menu were fudge made from Vermont maple syrup, lavender shortbread cookies and cotton candy dusted with orange zest.
A selection of wines priced from $30 to $65 was offered from California, Washington and Monticello, Va., where President Obama took Mr. Hollande for a tour Monday.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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