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 singer@forward.com

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.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO