--- title: President Obama Will Absolutely Not Put Peas in His Guacamole description: Because who would? canonical: https://time.com/3944055/president-obama-guacamole/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-01T22:06:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:41.965Z og:title: President Obama Will Absolutely Not Put Peas in His Guacamole og:description: Because who would? og:url: https://time.com/3944055/president-obama-guacamole/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04077bbcebac83c0/69885972524fc044ccdf3682/gettyimages-479140546.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-OBAMA-HEALTHCARE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Will Absolutely Not Put Peas in His Guacamole twitter:description: Because who would? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04077bbcebac83c0/69885972524fc044ccdf3682/gettyimages-479140546.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Will Absolutely Not Put Peas in His Guacamole > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: 5 Elements of A Viral Video [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Elements of A Viral Video](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8) (1:31)  _Published 2015-06-22. 5 Elements of A Viral Video_  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 1, 2015 10:06 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama speaks about the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, at Taylor Stratton Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee, July 1, 2015. US President Barack Obama speaks about the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, at Taylor Stratton Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee, July 1, 2015. SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 1, 2015 10:06 PM UTC President Barack Obama has officially weighed in on guacamole-gate, and he is definitely not a fan of mixing peas into guac. The controversy began when the New York _Times_ [encouraged its readers to try adding peas to their guacamole](https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/616303020574441472). Guac fans the world over didn’t just question the _Times’_ taste. They exploded. The leader of the free world added his own opinion during a Twitter Q&A, and guess what? He’s on the side of the truly patriotic, God-fearing Americans. > [](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/616338528138608640) In turns out peas in guac is one of the only issues both side of the aisle can agree on. Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush and the Texas GOP both agreed with Obama: > [](https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/616329509617463296) > [](https://twitter.com/TexasGOP/status/616314120648830976) Here are some other great reactions to the great guac controversy of 2015: > [](https://twitter.com/wilw/status/616346047019749376) > [](https://twitter.com/EricHaywood/status/616310076702232576) > [](https://twitter.com/AlexJamesFitz/status/616303163306569728) > [](https://twitter.com/davidSrauf/status/616303724231720960) > [](https://twitter.com/WilliamTurton/status/616304355273125888) > [](https://twitter.com/pourmecoffee/status/616308436318453760) > [](https://twitter.com/GrahamCC/status/616343517561008128) ### See Photos of Barack Obama in College  Chance Encounter In 1980, when Obama was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he was approached by an aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack, who asked him if he would be willing to pose for some black and white photographs that she could use in her portfolio. Lisa Jack  Handsome Of her first meeting (in a campus eatery) with Obama, Jack remembers only that "He was really cute. But what else does a 20-year-old girl remember?" Lisa Jack  Styled In the photos, Jack says, "You can see he is just posing, initially, but as the shoot goes on, he starts to come out. He was very charismatic even then." Lisa Jack  Prop Jack never realized her dream of becoming a photographer and is now a psychologist. Lisa Jack  Pose Jack and Obama would see each other only a few more times while students. But in 2005, while on a tour, she spotted Obama on Capitol Hill and yelled hello. "He knew exactly who I was after all this time," Jack says. "I was amazed." Lisa Jack  Doubt On a dare from a skeptical friend, Jack decided to track down her negatives from the shoot. Lisa Jack  Searcher Initially, before she dug the film out from her basement, Jack never thought her pictures would have much life beyond her own darkroom. Lisa Jack  Smile When she found them, the images of Obama "blew me away," she says. "I had no idea I'd taken a whole roll of film." Lisa Jack  Charm For a while, Jack put the negatives in a safety-deposit box, so that they could not be used until after the election, when there would be no chance they could be used for a political purpose.  Thoughtful Today, Jack says, she hopes the photos reveal a "spirit of fun and thoughtfulness." Lisa Jack  The Man Who Would Be President "I'm not political," Jack says, "(But) these are historic photos and they should be shared." 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