Melania Trump's Favorite Meal Is Notoriously High In Fat

If you're a celebrity — especially if you're of the world-famous variety — you can expect that pretty much every aspect of your life will be subjected to public scrutiny (or at the very least, curiosity). Take U.S. President Donald Trump, for example, whose less-than-healthy eating preferences are rarely out of the spotlight. (You can take a look at everything you'll find in Donald Trump's daily diet — most of which is meat and fast food — and judge for yourself.)

On the other hand, if you were to examine everything you'll find in Trump's wife, Melania's, daily diet, you'd be able to paint a mental picture of a health-conscious First Lady. Fruits, vegetables, fat-free yogurt, and heart-healthy oatmeal and olive oil are among Melania's dietary constants. However, it doesn't mean that Melania strictly sticks to healthy foods all the time. In fact, she once revealed that her favorite meal is one that's packed with both flavor and fat: a specific restaurant's take on chicken parmigiana.

In a 2010 interview with New York Magazine, Melania Trump shared that she was the one who prepared her own meals every morning. Granted, this interview took place before her time as First Lady, so it's not far-fetched to assume that her schedule has drastically changed since then. 

What's interesting, though, is that even though she admitted to putting in a lot of effort toward meal preparation, she also revealed that she was a big fan of the "variety of amazing foods" in New York. And her all-time favorite meal? "The Chicken Parmigianino [sic] at Jean-Georges," referring to the Michelin-starred restaurant at the Trump International Hotel & Tower New York. 

Interested in trying it yourself? We checked the menu at Jean-Georges to see if it's still there, but surprisingly, we couldn't find it. However, it's not that difficult to find the recipe online, which means you can try replicating it at home.

At its core, chicken parmigiana (sometimes called chicken parmesan) is a fairly straightforward dish, with two components that you'd likely find in virtually any "basic" iteration of the recipe: a deep-fried boneless chicken breast and copious amounts of parmesan cheese. In some versions of the Jean-Georges recipe floating around on the internet, freshly ground black pepper, all-purpose flour, and egg whites are constants; at least one incorporates olive oil and cracker bits for some extra flair.

Unfortunately, the ingredients and steps required for chicken parmigiana make it potentially high not just in fat, but also in sodium. For starters, frying and breading the chicken makes it fatty, even though the cut of meat itself is lean. Second, the cheese itself is high in fat: 100 grams of parmesan contains a whopping 25 grams of fat (14.8 grams of which is saturated), paired with 1,180 milligrams of sodium. Considering that health experts recommend that people only consume 6% of total calories from saturated fat (about 13 grams on a 2,000-calorie daily limit) and below 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, it's easy to see how this tasty dish can be considered unhealthy.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to reduce the fat content of chicken parmigiana, although this means you'll likely have to prepare the dish yourself at home (unless your restaurant of choice offers a low-fat chicken parmigiana option).

One way to make chicken parmigiana less fatty without sacrificing its taste would be to swap out parmesan cheese for mozzarella. The same 100-gram serving of the latter clocks in at 17.1 grams of fat, 10.9 of which is saturated. Not perfect, sure, but it's not too shabby an alternative, either.

You can also scrape the fat off the chicken (this also means making sure you don't include the skin) before cooking it, or simply reduce the amount of cheese you put on it. Another option would be to bake the chicken instead of frying it, which will cut its overall fat content. Lastly, some recipes recommend skipping the breading entirely, which reduces fat but may also affect the texture.

With all that said, it's a relatively well-known fact that among the Trumps, Melania can be considered a health buff. Aside from her documented fondness for fruits and vegetables, the First Lady also likes to incorporate nutritious smoothies into her everyday regimen. 

In a 2013 Facebook post, she revealed the list of ingredients that go into her blender for her morning smoothie, including apple, blueberries, carrots, celery, fat-free yogurt, flax seeds, olive oil, and spinach.

Smoothies aren't the only beverages that Melania Trump drinks in a day; she's also fond of fruit juice (orange juice and lemon juice are part of her breakfast smoothie) and, rather surprisingly, Diet Coke — or, as she specified in her New York Magazine interview, "Diet Coke from the classic glass bottles."

However, there is one popular food you won't find in Melania Trump's diet. She doesn't enjoy raw fish, which means sushi is a no-go. "I made it known that I do not eat raw fish," she wrote in her self-titled memoir, published in 2024 (via Hindustan Times). 

This is a culinary preference that she shares with her husband. In fact, when she accompanied him on a Presidential trip to Japan in 2019, she reportedly specified that sushi should not be served to them. Whatever her reason may be for avoiding raw fish, it isn't a particularly uncommon choice. According to a 2021 Mashed poll, 15% of respondents expressed their dislike for raw fish.

There are two other foods that Melania has said she doesn't like, and both of them are typically considered healthy. In a 2005 appearance on Martha Stewart's show, Melania shared that while she does enjoy vegetables, onions and artichokes are the exception (via Miami Herald).