
Dallas avocado enthusiast Liz Goulding created these bumper stickers in response to a 2013 interview wherein Ted Cruz admitted he "despises" avocados.
courtesy Liz Goulding
In 2013, when Ted Cruz told The Des Moines Register that he "despises" avocados, former Dallas freelance journalist (and current podcaster) Liz Goulding proclaimed that Cruz was "no longer fit to serve Texas." She also created bumper stickers — "Ted Cruz: Wrong on avocados, wrong for America" — and even got together with friends, one of whom is a voice actor, to make a political attack ad referencing Cruz's disdain for the cornerstone of guacamole.
"So ask yourself — can a man's moral center exceed his palate?" the ad asks. "To what other important issues does Ted Cruz bring the same lack of clarity? What other good and right options cause Ted disgust?"
Obviously, food plays a huge role in humanizing candidates. Back when I was a full-time photojournalist in the swing state of Ohio, I covered the presidential campaign leading up to Barack Obama's first win in November 2008, and often, I photographed carefully staged photo ops at restaurants — like this image I took of Joe Biden ordering dinner at a Kewpee Burger in Lima, Ohio. Biden campaigned his way through most of the visit, to bored looks from the journalists around me, but their pens really started moving the minute he placed an order for a double Kewpee Burger.
In the Texas U.S. Senate race, food is front and center like never before. U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke frequently posts Facebook live videos of his Whataburger orders, and Cruz famously called him a "triple-meat Whataburger liberal." Beloved Austin director Richard Linklater then launched a series of attack ads, one of which mocks Cruz's affinity for White Castle.

Does O'Rourke eat tacos with a fork? We haven't spotted any evidence of this, but you can nonetheless buy a shirt on Amazon that makes this assertion.
courtesy Amazon
Another political Texas food rumor we are unable to confirm: Cruz's disdain for Fletcher's Corny Dogs, a claim made by a series of humorous yard signs recently spotted by Oak Cliff resident John Bradley, who photographed the signs during a walk in his Kessler Plaza neighborhood.

Oak Cliff resident John Bradley spotted these signs in a Kessler Plaza neighbor's front yard.
courtesy John Bradley
One of the signs lists "things I like more than Ted Cruz: 1. Oklahoma. 2. Pace Picante. 3. KC (Kansas City) BBQ." That thread continues on another sign listing things they like more than Cruz: warm beer, cold queso and unsweetened tea. Obviously, the signs are meant in jest — but they're also posted next to a Beto campaign sign that makes the humorous signs' intent pretty clear.

This Oak Cliff resident has some strong opinions about cold queso and unsweet tea.
courtesy John Bradley
"It's a free country," user tmarkville wrote. "You can call it whatever you want. Just know that you're lying if you call it chili."