Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s staff cut off a USA Today interview question about the grossest food he has ever eaten, moments after he admitted eating "stuff I find on the street."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the admission Wednesday in an exclusive video interview with USA Today's Francesca Chambers.
The interview was conducted in connection with the launch of his new Real Food Show, a White House-backed cooking series promoting affordable, healthy meals.
"…I will literally eat anything… I don't have a gag reflex," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Chambers. "When I travel, I'll eat, you know, even stuff I find on the street, you know, street vendors, cooking."
Chambers pressed him on whether he had eaten anything that had left others stunned.
"Like, is there stuff that you've eaten that people are like, wow. You ate that," Chambers asked.
"You mean, like, something gross? Or?" Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replied.
"Yes. Maybe gross for others. Yeah. Not for you," Chambers said.
"I'm getting a signal not to answer that question," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, shutting down the line of questioning.
Chambers immediately changed the subject, moving on to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s views on veganism.
In August 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted that a decade earlier he had picked up a dead bear cub from the side of the road, intending to eat it, before dumping the carcass in Central Park and staging it to look like a bicycle accident, NPR reported.
Earlier this year, he told Theo Von's podcast that he used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats — a remark he made while explaining why he attended in-person recovery meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hill reported.
Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy told Town & Country in 2012 that her father had chainsawed the head off a beached whale, strapped it to the roof of the family minivan, and driven it five hours home, ABC News reported. Whale juice poured through the windows the entire trip, Kathleen Kennedy said.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said his everyday diet consists entirely of meat and fermented foods, pairing each bite of steak with a bite of sauerkraut as his "prescribed perfect way of eating," he told Chambers.
"A lot of pressure," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joked, after it was reported that Vice President JD Vance had slimmed down by following his beef-and-sauerkraut regimen.
The Real Food Show launched July 30, with its first episode featuring Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cooking crispy salmon cakes, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
