--- description: The First Lady films a hilarious vine about veggie consumption title: Michelle Obama: 'Turnip for What?' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1360be4e47d75239/698760de8e060145a1457b6b/ap582159195955.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [politics](/tag/politics/) ## politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Michelle Obama: 'Turnip for What?'  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 15, 2014 3:20 AM CUT  First Lady Michelle Obama is joined by school children as they harvest peanuts in the annual fall harvest at the White House on Oct. 14, 2014 First Lady Michelle Obama is joined by school children as they harvest peanuts in the annual fall harvest at the White House on Oct. 14, 2014Susan Walsh—AP  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 15, 2014 3:20 AM CUT First Lady Michelle Obama has brought her fresh-produce campaign to the most appropriately named venue yet: the six-second video app Vine. The advocate of healthy eating — known for her White House garden — poses with a turnip in her brief video clip, before asking “Turnip for what?” It’s a fun play on DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s summer hit “Turn Down for What,” a song that’s had a longer-than-expected life as a [voter-registration anthem](http://time.com/3478171/rock-the-vote-psa-lena-dunham/ "undefined"). It was the perfect response to an Obama impersonator using Vine to ask the First Lady how many calories she burns when she “turns up.” Perhaps this is the easiest and most cost-effective way to remind a generally disaffected young voter base of the appeals of the Obama presidency leading into the midterm elections. Or maybe the First Lady really just wanted to boogie with a root vegetable. Either way, this is perhaps the most unscripted Michelle Obama we’ve seen yet — willing to expend far more energy on TV appearances from _The Biggest Loser_ to _Parks and_ _Recreation_, none of which has caught the public’s imagination quite so vividly. We look forward to whatever may be her next veggie-themed song parody (good luck, as no veggie names spring to mind as rhymes for “All About That Bass” or “Shake It Off”) — or just the next time she has fun advocating roughage consumption. _Read next:_ [_Michelle Obama Thinks Pencils Are a Crummy Halloween Gift_](http://time.com/3462177/michelle-obama-thinks-pencils-are-a-crummy-halloween-gift/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3508424/michelle-obama-turnip-for-what-vine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3508424/michelle-obama-turnip-for-what-vine/"},"headline":"Michelle Obama: 'Turnip for What?'","datePublished":"2014-10-15T03:20:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:47:44.010Z","description":"The First Lady films a hilarious vine about veggie consumption","url":"https://time.com/3508424/michelle-obama-turnip-for-what-vine/","keywords":["politics","Michelle Obama","Vine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1360be4e47d75239/698760de8e060145a1457b6b/ap582159195955.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel D'Addario","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1360be4e47d75239/698760de8e060145a1457b6b/ap582159195955.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michelle Obama","caption":"Michelle Obama","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3508424/michelle-obama-turnip-for-what-vine/","name":"Michelle Obama: 'Turnip for What?'"}}]}] ```