george hw bush broccoli

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A 5-year-old boy is urging Bush to embrace broccoli

Bush replied, "His declared love of broccoli is genuine, if also unpersuasive"

Washington CNN  — 

Not even a heartfelt letter from a veggie-loving 5-year-old can produce a change in President George H.W. Bush’s hatred of broccoli.

On Saturday, the 41st president tweeted a photo of a letter purportedly from a boy named Cooper who endorsed the vegetable and urged the 92-year-old president to start embracing the green sprout. Cooper wrote, “My grama told me that you do not like broccoli and never want it served … Mr. President, broccoli is really good for you. I wish you liked broccoli like I do.”

In the tweet, Bush replied, “Proud of young Cooper’s interest in healthy eating. His declared love of broccoli is genuine, if also unpersuasive.”

Bush, who reportedly banned broccoli from Air Force One during his presidency, has long made his distaste for the vegetable known.

“I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid,” he memorably said in 1990. “And my mother made me eat it. And I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat anymore broccoli.”