New York City's first self-described "vegan" mayor, Democrat Eric Adams, is on the ropes over his dietary choices after he was caught ordering fish.
After the diet-obsessed mayor was caught ordering fish during a lunch at Osteria La Baia in Manhattan with former mayor Bill de Blasio, Adams said reporters shouldn't worry what he's eating. "Don't worry about what's on Mayor Adams's plate," Adams told reporters on Monday, referring to himself as "perfectly imperfect" and to those who questioned his dietary choices as "food police."
"Does Eric eat fish? Does he eat a hamburger? Does he do this? Does he do that? You know, I mean, it's just, listen, here's my message: The more plant-based meals you have, the healthier you are going to be," Adams said, in an apparent display of vegan "bothsidesism."
A restaurant employee said Adams regularly orders fish and described him as a "pescatarian," but the mayor insists he is a vegan.
During his explanation of the lapse, Adams compared food to drugs, saying cheese eaters are just as addicted to the coagulated dairy product as drug addicts are to heroin.
"Food is like a drug," Adams said. "You take someone on heroin, put them in one room, and someone hooked on cheese, put 'em in another room, and you take it away, I challenge you to tell me the person who's hooked on heroin and who's hooked on cheese."
In his book Healthy at Last, Adams made the case for plant-based diets as a defense against chronic diseases, particularly those that disproportionately affect minority groups. On the campaign trail he told voters his "health journey" to veganism reversed his diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, restored his sight, and "changed not only the trajectory of my life, but also my career as a public servant."
It is unclear whether New York City's vegan-only Friday menu at public schools will include fish options.