Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a playful swipe at Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s unusual eating habits Tuesday, revealing that Kennedy travels with coolers packed with sauerkraut to keep up with his strict diet.
Rubio and his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, discussed Kennedy’s eating routine while appearing on Katie Miller’s podcast. The subject came up during a quickfire round of questions that also touched on the broader “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, movement.
“This is a crazy diet. This is a diet that consists of eating sauerkraut and meat,” Rubio said. “Nah, you understand, like, this is not a sustainable thing. Like you can’t just walk into it, you know –”
His wife quickly pointed out that Kennedy apparently has no trouble sticking with it.
“Well, he sustains it,” she said.
Rubio then explained just how far Kennedy goes to maintain his eating habits while traveling.
“Can you imagine? He has to travel with coolers of sauerkraut,” Rubio said. “I’m not gonna travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut. It’s ridiculous! I can’t do it. It’s not sustainable for me.”
Miller then asked Rubio whether he considered himself part of the MAHA movement.
“I’m in favor of MAHA. Like I think people should be healthy,” Rubio replied.
His wife immediately pushed back.
“No, he is not. He is completely not,” she said.
When Miller asked what the secretary of state eats instead, Jeanette Rubio offered a simple answer: “Pop-Tarts.”
Rubio insisted he does not eat Pop-Tarts every day before launching into an enthusiastic defense of the popular toaster pastry.
“The Pop-Tart is one of the great American innovations in the history of the world,” Rubio said. “If you think about it, it comes in this beautiful foil pack.”
His wife wasn’t buying the defense, accusing Rubio of regularly eating foods he should avoid.
“You eat all the things you should not be eating. Every single thing,” she said.
She later added that Rubio “loves fast food” and “loves it all.”
Kennedy’s commitment to sauerkraut is not exactly a secret.
His wife, actress Cheryl Hines, has previously revealed that Kennedy has asked her to carry his sauerkraut inside designer handbags. Kennedy also reportedly brings the fermented cabbage with him when going out to restaurants.
And Kennedy apparently is not alone in embracing versions of the diet inside the Trump administration.
The Wall Street Journal reported in June that Vice President JD Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy were also following versions of Kennedy’s eating regimen.
Rubio, however, made it clear that hauling a cooler of sauerkraut around the world is not part of his own dietary plans — while his wife made equally clear that his preference for Pop-Tarts and fast food puts him on a very different menu from Kennedy.
