Ketchup on Hot Dogs? President Obama Weighs In on Hot Chicago Food Qs

Ahead of the Late Show‘s untimely cancelation later this month, Stephen Colbert sat down with Former President Barack Obama one last time for a thoughtful discussion on the expanding powers of the Presidency and the opening of his new Presidential Center in Chicago. I couldn’t take any of those timely and important answers to heart, though, because Colbert opened the interview by testing the Former President’s “Chicago bona fides”–including some food-focused questions right up the Sporked alley. Here’s a rundown of every controversial answer from the Oval Office ex-occupant.

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“Is a hot dog a sandwich?”

This isn’t Colbert’s first time asking a noted political figure to weigh in on the topic; while working out together in 2018, he asked Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. After some hemming and hawing about the definition of a sandwich, she landed in the “yes” category.

President Obama’s verdict: “No, a hot dog is a hot dog.”

“Is it ever okay to put ketchup on a hot dog?”

Per the Chicago doggery Fluky’s, a Chicago-style dog consists of a beef hot dog in a poppy seed bun topped with yellow mustard, sweet relish, chopped onions, a dill pickle spear, two tomato slices, sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. The eagle-eyed among you will notice ketchup does not appear on that list; many Chicagoans consider even asking for ketchup on a hot dog to be a grave insult to their heritage or soul or whatever.

President Obama’s verdict: “Never.”

“Deep dish or tavern-style?”

As a Midwestern non-believer in Chicago’s famous casserole-disguised-as-pizza, this question warms my heart. City-wide statistics from GrubHub and Yelp suggest tavern-style pizza outsells deep dish overall. Fellow Chicagoan CM Punk swears by Lou Malnati’s thin-crust pizza as his cheat meal, but how did Chicago’s favorite son respond on the record?

President Obama’s verdict: “Tavern-style.”

“Sweet or hot?”

Referring to the choice between sweet peppers, hot giardiniera, or both on an Italian beef sandwich, this is a far less contentious topic than the concept of ketchup on hot dogs. It really is just about personal preference, so how does the Former President prefer his Italian beef topped?

President Obama’s verdict: “Both.”

“Do you like your Italian beef dry, wet, or dipped?”

The eponymous “beef” in the Italian beef sandwich is loaded into the sandwich from a vat of delicious au jus. This question refers to the quantity of au jus you’d like to accept from the vat: as little as possible, a good amount, or as much as possible.

President Obama’s verdict: “I think wet—not soaked.”