Former President Obama Eats His Favorite Late-Night Snack In 7s

From hoe cakes and fanny daddies to boar's heads and caramel tomatoes, American presidents have been known to have some curious culinary preferences. Among this very wide variety of flavors and textures, Barack Obama's late-night food ritual stands out for its mathematical precision. The former president used to routinely stay up late in the Treaty Room of the White House, reviewing his daily briefing materials — a thick binder filled with government memos and documents, with sports on TV in the background.

When he got hungry at night, he wouldn't dig into the refrigerator for leftovers or order takeout like most people would. According to Sam Kass, personal chef to the Obamas until 2014, Barack's go-to night-time snack was seven lightly salted almonds — never six or eight, always seven.

Obama's disciplined approach to late-night snacking was perhaps his way of balancing his otherwise contradictory eating habits. While he was arguably the fittest president in American history, with morning workout routines that regularly made headlines, he also became notorious for the amount of junk food he consumed on the campaign trail. His precisely portioned almond ritual suggests he was trying to make up for all those burgers, fries, and gas-station snacks that fueled his political career.

From his love for cheeseburgers and Fran's smoked salt caramels, President Barack Obama's meals regularly made the news. Much like the seven-almond snack, here are two other stories that stood out.

The first was a meal he had with Anthony Bourdain in Hanoi in 2016, one which the celebrity chef enjoyed for how relaxed the president was. The visuals of the two sitting on plastic chairs, Obama's sleeves rolled up, radiated both extreme warmth and supreme coolness. They split a bowl of bun cha, clinking cold beers while talking foreign policy and fatherhood. The whole thing cost $6 and felt like a soft power masterstroke.

The second was a trip to Japan in 2014, where he dined at Sukiyabashi Jiro — the Michelin-starred restaurant from the movie "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" — this time with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. While he told reporters it was the best sushi he had ever had, stories later emerged that he only made it halfway through the 20-course meal, adding one more oddly specific food footnote in a presidency full of them.