Dennis Kucinich, the vegan who would be U.S. president
Originally published in The Hill
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
Dennis Kucinich, the vegan who would be U.S. president
Midwest Catholic talks of faith, feta, Bach and rock
By Melissa Seckora
On a steamy July night after late votes in the House, Dennis Kucinich, the four-term Ohio congressman and one of nine candidates competing for the Democratic presidential nomination, heads over to a corner table reserved for him at Taverna the Greek Islands.
He orders a cup of hot water with lemon and welcomes me to join him for dinner.
The Greek restaurant is only a few blocks from Kucinich€™s office in the Longworth building and, it turns out, is his favorite spot to dine when on Capitol Hill. He always receives a warm welcome. So welcome, that on Sept. 11, 2001, after the House and Senate were evacuated, Kucinich brought his entire staff there for shelter.
€œSo good to see you again,€ said the restaurant owner, Bill Kavadias, a jolly Greek man with bushy eyebrows. €œHow are you?€
A fellow diner, catching the congressman with a thick slice of wheat toast loaded with hummus in his mouth, interrupted: €œMr. President, I€™m 100 percent behind you.€
Kucinich highly recommends the hummus, the house salad with feta, kalamata olives, onion, green pepper and tomato, and the spanakopita (spinach pie). Kucinich is a vegan, and the €œexcellent€ vegetarian selections on the menu fit perfectly into his strictly meatless and dairy-free diet.
€œI became a vegan out of love,€ he says, referring to Yelena Boxer, a long-term girlfriend who introduced him to the vegan diet, adding: €œI feel healthy. I have a lot more energy, more stamina.€
So we each order a pie, served with a side of green beans, stewed tomatoes, and a boiled potato. Substitute a good steak for the pie and Kucinich€™s favorite meal is a regular Midwest supper. The restaurant is homey, with small tables dressed in basic white tablecloths and dinnerware.
Born in Cleveland in 1946, Kucinich, 56, the eldest of seven children, who, along with father Frank and mother Virginia, lived in 21 places, including €œa couple of cars,€ by the time he was 17 years old. Kucinich ran for mayor of Cleveland in 1977 at the age of 31 and became the youngest person ever elected to run a major American city. He lost re-election in 1979 after he refused to sell the city€™s 70-year-old municipally owned electric system to a private competitor as a precondition of extending credit to the city government.
€œI think there is a misunderstanding in the world about wealth,€ he said, adding: €œI can€™t say that growing up I really understood wealth. Some people I came into contact with that had money were overcharging my parents for goods and services, evicting us from our apartments. The only understanding I had early on about wealth creation was very class-based €” you work hard, you can get ahead. That€™s a myth €” there are a lot of people working hard and they€™re not getting ahead.€
His campaign website reads like a more-or-less normal press release €” €œKucinich € is a dynamic, visionary leader of the Progressive Caucus. € His holistic worldview carries with it a passionate commitment to public service, peace, human rights, workers rights, and the environment. €€ €” but when he is asked what makes him tick, it is clear that the presidential aspirant doesn€™t fit into the mainstream.
During the Fourth of July holiday, Willie Nelson invited him down to Austin, where he attended a concert and met members of the Grateful Dead. Kucinich says he relates to Nelson, who has endorsed him for president, because he is a person who has a €œpowerful sense of humanity and humility.€
€œWe connect from heart to heart in the sense of connecting over the plight of farmers, workers,€ he explained. €œWillie identifies that I come from the beginnings that are not unlike the beginnings of a lot of Americans. He told me he wanted to do a few concerts for me.€
Other influential musicians? John Lennon is his favorite Beatle, and €œImagine€ is the introductory music played for Kucinich€™s big events. €œI listen to a mixture of classical and rock €™n€™ roll. I like Bach€™s Christmas oratorios, Mozart€™s piano and trumpet music. I like to write to instrumentals,€ he said.
A Roman Catholic, Kucinich€™s faith influences profoundly the way he views society, calling to mind Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, which he says has had a €œpowerful€ impact on his life because it is an example of the €œsocial gospel€ €” a commitment to worker rights, healthcare and peace.
€œThe Catholic faith has had the most powerful impact on my life. I try to make every moment of my life prayer,€ he said.
It has not, though, had a lasting impact on his view of abortion rights, which he no longer opposes. €œMy voting record has been described as pro-life,€ he said, €œbut in the last year, I€™ve demonstrated evolution on the issue. I want to work to make abortion less necessary through sex education and birth control.€
€œI think what I can do as president is bring about some healing on the issue,€ he continued. €œI understand people who want a world where abortion is less necessary and women who feel they will never be truly equal if they can€™t make this choice.€
€œIt€™s more important to ask people where they stand with themselves than where they stand on an issue,€ he said.
While he€™s taken pains to reach out to women voters, it€™s less clear how much he€™s tried to reach out to women on a personal level. Twice divorced, Kucinich is coy on whether he€™d like to be the first bachelor to occupy the White House since Grover Cleveland: €œLet me put it this way €” I€™m available.€
With that, the interview ends, but not before Kucinich satisfies his vegan sweet tooth. He asks the waitress if she has any mangoes in the house. Within minutes a large plate of the juicy tropical fruit arrives, and Kucinich tucks in.
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