A political controversy that’s made to order

Because there aren’t enough issues to divide Americans these days, the Washington Post has served up another one. Call it “Menugate.”

On a recent evening, the newspaper reported this week, President and first lady Biden went out for dinner at a popular local restaurant called the Red Hen.

One of them ordered chicory salad, grilled bread and butter and a bowl of rigatoni with red sauce. Then the other one ordered . . . chicory salad, grilled bread and butter and a bowl of rigatoni with red sauce.

“The Bidens order the same dish at a restaurant,” the ensuing Post headline declared. “Who does that?”

That is, perhaps, a question of such magnitude that it will not be resolved without a subpoena or two, several congressional hearings and a Supreme Court decision.

And it will come as no surprise if other news outlets spin the story by questioning why the president of the United States is ordering foreign food instead of American food. Or whether the reason the president ordered pasta is because he’s too old to chew steak.

But the issue already has raised what the Post described as “a virtual food fight.”

“Getting the same thing as the person you’re eating with is silly,” one woman is quoted as saying. “The whole point of going out to eat is getting to try as many things as possible.”

A dating expert raised the question of whether not sharing food was a possible indication of some sort of character flaw. Others said people who insist on ordering different meals suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out).

“It was the mere fact that they both ordered the same entrée that set group chats and social media sideline commentators ablaze across the land,” the Post concluded.

The blaze already has reached the land in which my wife and I reside. Because what to order has been a question for as long as we’ve been dining out together.

The other evening, for instance, we went out for dinner at a popular local restaurant.

“What are you going to order?” I asked.

“I was thinking about the chicken Parmesan.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about that, too. But if you get that, maybe I should get the linguini vongole.”

“Why don’t you just get the Parmesan?”

“Because I want try the linguini.”

“So order the linguini.” “But if I get the linguini and you get the Parmesan, we can share.”

“I don’t even like linguini.”

“How can you not like linguini? It’s just like spaghetti, only flatter.”

By the time the server arrived to take our order, the only thing we agreed upon is that we both were ready for a large glass of wine.