#söderisst: Why Markus Söder stages his diet

#söderisst
“A classic in the field of populism”: Why Markus Söder presents his food on Instagram

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) treats himself to an ice cream on July 30, 2021

© Daniel Karmann / DPA / Picture Alliance

With “#söderisst” Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder has created his own small food blog on Instagram and Facebook. It’s probably about a lot more than just your eating habits.

When Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder was recently “on long trips across the country”, there was “only one alternative” for him, as he writes on Instagram: a McRib and a portion of fries in sauce-smeared cardboard. “I admit: I like it very much”. smiley.

#söderisst: Markus Söder presents his food

Under the hashtag “#söderisst”, the CSU boss has been showing his followers on Instagram and Facebook for quite some time what he eats – according to the motto: “What should I eat today? Salad or platter?” The McRib got more than 12,800 likes.

“The idea for #söderisst came from Markus Söder himself. It’s always his pictures and his food,” says one of his spokesmen. “Many people are also interested in the everyday life behind the work as a politician.”

“Asparagus is my favorite vegetable,” these people learn, for example. There is a video of rotating roast chickens, a knuckle of pork at the Nuremberg folk festival and a chocolate Easter lamb in Traunstein.

Nutrition experts would certainly have something to say about the hearty eating habits of the 56-year-old – but so would communication scientists. “It’s a classic, especially in the field of populism,” says communication scientist Carsten Reinemann from the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU). Researchers talk about “gastropopulism” or “food populism” when politicians address what they eat.

“gastropopulism”

“The aim is often to create a connection with the people,” he says. “That’s why populists in particular like to be photographed eating together with citizens.”

As examples of “gastropopulism”, Reinemann cites the far-right Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, the former US President Donald Trump, who demonstratively ordered fast food into the White House – but also ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) and his now almost iconic “Get me a bottle of beer”.

“Of course, food can also be a way of distancing oneself from the stereotype of the political opponent,” says university professor Reinemann. “So in the case of the CSU, especially from the Greens,” which the Christian Socialists like to portray as “vegetarian, vegan, joyless.”

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