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At the bustling Pi pizza restaurant in St Louis, the staff has come up with a new mantra: "It's just pizza!"
Just pizza, and yet, customers are happy to wait more than two hours at peak time for a table - ever since news broke out that Barack Obama loved it so much during a campaign stop that the owners were invited to recreate it in the White House ovens.
"We tell them it'll be two to four hours, and they say, OK!" says owner Chris Sommers, who spent his own money on travel to prepare the presidential meal in April.
Pizza from St Louis, pancakes from Pittsburgh. A juicy hamburger or a chili half-smoke sausage in Washington, soul food in Chicago. The new American president eats something and others want to eat it, too. Has there ever been such attention to the food the president eats?
"Well, White House cookbooks have always been popular - but no, there's never been this flood of interest before," says Eddie Gehman Kohan, editor of the blog Obama Foodorama. She sees a fusion of two potent forces: An escalating interest in food and food policy, and enormous curiosity in anything Obama.
And all this interest may have even more to do with first lady Michelle Obama than Barack. Some polls have shown the first lady is even more popular than her husband, and for all the focus on her fashions and her biceps, she's made food a prime area of interest - especially with her new White House kitchen garden.
Indeed, foodies have no doubt that it was Michelle who chose Blue Hill, a pricey but understated New York restaurant, for the couple's much-discussed "Date Night" at the end of May.
"Everyone gave them space and was too cool to bother them," says Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University who ate at a nearby table.
"When they got up, the whole place broke out into spontaneous applause," says Eva Fleischer, who was dining with her husband and friends. "Barack said, 'Hi guys,' and Michelle even touched my friend on her shoulder!"
"No comment," says Blue Hill chef Dan Barber, who won't say another word about the evening, though he's said to have personally cooked an off-the-menu feast for the Obamas.
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(Agencies)
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美国圣路易斯的Pi披萨饼店最近生意火爆，员工们想出一句新口号招徕顾客：“这才是披萨！”。
仅仅是普通的披萨吗？当然不是。自从媒体爆料奥巴马在选举途中爱上了这款披萨饼，并在入主白宫后邀请店主前去烹制后，即便在用餐高峰期，顾客们也乐意等两小多小时以飨佳肴。
店主克里斯•萨默斯说：“我们告诉顾客要等两到四小时，他们却说‘没问题’！”他曾于四月份自费去为奥巴马做披萨。
除了圣路易斯的披萨饼外，因奥巴马而火爆的还有匹兹堡的薄烤饼、华盛顿的果汁汉堡和辣味烤肠、以及芝加哥的黑人传统食品。新上任的美国总统爱吃什么，其他人就也想尝尝。之前人们从未如此关注总统的口味。
“奥巴马口味”博客的编辑埃迪•格曼•科恩说：“白宫食谱一向很流行，但从没有受到过这么大的关注。”她发现两种强劲的力量融合到一起——对食物和食品政策的日益关注，以及对与奥巴马有关的所有事物的巨大好奇心。
而人们的这种兴趣体现在第一夫人米歇尔•奥巴马身上则有过之而无不及。一些民调显示，第一夫人比她丈夫还要受欢迎，尽管人们对她的时尚风格和身材关注最多，但她的主要兴趣还是食物---特别是她崭新的白宫菜园。
人们对五月底总统夫妇的“约会夜”大加评论。事实上，美食家们毫不怀疑是米歇尔选择了蓝山餐厅，纽约这家餐厅价格不菲，但风格并不张扬。
纽约大学的营养学及食品研究教授马里恩•内斯特尔说：“人们没有打扰他们，酷到连招呼都没打”。当时他就在邻桌用餐。
正跟丈夫和朋友在那里用餐的伊娃•弗莱舍说：“当他们用餐完毕起身时，整个餐厅的人自发鼓掌。巴拉克说，‘嗨，朋友们’，米歇尔甚至拍了拍我朋友的肩膀。”
关于约会夜，蓝山餐厅大厨丹•巴伯只说了一句“无可奉告”，就再也不肯透露了。据称，他在约会夜亲自为奥巴马夫妇烹制了一席菜单上没有的盛宴。
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（英语点津 实习生许雅宁编辑）
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