Ina Garten Says She’d Like To Serve Trump ‘A Subpoena’

Ina and Jeffrey Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer October 26, 2018

Here’s one thing that you can’t get fresh-baked or store-bought: a subpoena.

In a Thursday night interview with Frank Bruni at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y, that is what Ina Garten, grand dame of home cooking, said that is what she would like to “serve” President Trump, given the chance. As The Hill reports, Garten then laughed, with the perfect teeth, warm smile and hint of repressed rage for which, in this fan’s opinion, she is known and loved.

Garten, who became synonymous with gracious home cooking through her popular TV show and a series of cookbooks, is not to be underestimated when it comes to politics. The Jewish entrepreneur once wrote policy papers on nuclear energy under Presidents Ford and Carter. Upon Bruni’s inquiry she said that she would whip up something every so slightly more edible for other politicians: For Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, “pulled pork shoulder with maple beans, cornbread, and a kale salad,” and for Joe Biden, “something fun, like a lobster and clambake.” And she’d make a deliciously non-Kosher lobster macaroni and cheese for New Englander Elizabeth Warren. One can only imagine the “relaxing little evening at home”=slash-social bonanza she would throw for each civil servant.

The joke is a huge departure for Garten, who the publication Eater claims has never publicly referenced her political tastes. But now that she’s opened that delicious can of worms, we at the Forward want to know: Is the play on the word “subpoena” purely a joke about the word “serve,” or is it a play on the word’s edible-sounding first syllable?

Either way, we’d like an Ina Garten subway sandwich recipe, please and thank you.

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected]

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO