Cooking Show? Congressmen Weigh in on DeSantis' War on Veggie Burgers

TALLAHASSEE, FL—In a hearteningly bipartisan move, Florida congressmen are snickering at Governor Ron DeSantis's recent claim that hamburgers are healthier than veggie burgers at a Future Farmers of America event.

"I think all of those things are delicious. Beef is good, veggies are good, chicken is good," Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz told The Floridian. "Perhaps the Governor should have a cooking show—I think he'd enjoy that."

Republican Congressman Cory Mills agreed, insisting that while he prefers all-beef patties—specifically Angus meat—he rebuffed the idea of a "nanny state" managing peoples' everyday lives.

"If someone wants to have a veggie patty, let them have a veggie patty—I could care less. I don't like this idea of the nanny state, and that's what we've become," he told The Floridian. "I'm just not into it. I think we need to get back to the 10th Amendment: individual and state rights."

The Republican congressman touched on the key conservative platform of freedom and personal choice, a talking point that members of the left have criticized as "hypocritical" and "contradictory", citing differences in opinion on abortion, education, and what constitutes an individual right.

Mills' comments, however, don't just follow DeSantis's argument that plant-based meat is "less healthy" than hamburgers.

During the 2024 Session, DeSantis backed and signed a controversial law banning lab-grown meat from the state—a move critics argued was unnecessary and would stifle innovation. DeSantis, meanwhile, argued the law fights back against climate-change-oriented "elites" while maintaining a "vibrant agricultural industry".

"They want to create meat in a lab so that they can turn around and say you don’t need to farm anymore,” DeSantis said Tuesday.