Pass the Tums.

Much has been said about Kamala Harris culinary prowess –—his knife skills and comfort in the kitchen have spawned many thought pieces. After four years of ice cream and angel hair pasta, cooks and food and drink figures are clearly excited about the idea of ​​having a foodie in the White House.

This stands in stark contrast to his opponent in the presidential race, Donald Trump. A germaphobe and fast food lover, the former president’s best-known culinary accomplishments include ordering fast food for Clemson football players and enjoying a well-done steak slathered in ketchup.

Related: Kamala Harris’ One-Handed Egg Cracking Technique Is an Exercise in Dexterity — Here’s Exactly How She Did It

In theory, there couldn’t be two presidential candidates more diametrically opposed when it comes to food. And the recipes on Cooking with Kamala and that of Trump “I Love Hispanics” Taco Bowl don’t tell each other much about the person; they tell you more about the carefully crafted political personality.

To find out the person behind the character, I decided to take two days to eat exactly like Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for an entire day in a completely unscientific experiment based solely on first-hand masochistic experience. And yes, that meant eating four McDonald’s sandwiches in one sitting. We will get there.

Breakfast

Trump Breakfast: Diet Coke

Trump prefers to skip breakfast, often fasting 12 to 16 hours a day. As a coffee drinker, I found it difficult to subsist on nothing but the caffeine of my beloved Diet Coke all morning. Even after going down three before 9 a.m., the start of the day was foggy.

Harris breakfast: raisin bran with almond milk

For Harris, breakfast is just as unceremonious. She often eats “over the sink”, sticking to the classic Raisin branopting for almond milk instead of regular milk. Like Trump, she forgoes coffee, although her drink of choice is green tea, which gives me an equally small dose of caffeine. Both diets made me fully aware that even at a heart-healthy two cups a day, coffee has won the war against my body; I am chemically dependent.

Snacks

An unexpected overlap between the Trump and Harris regimes? Doritos. Both service the nacho cheese flavored chip when it comes to snacks.

Lunch

The Trump lunch: overcooked steak covered in ketchup

By lunch time, I was looking forward to ingesting a well-done steak with ketchup, even though I don’t like ketchup and prefer most meats cooked medium-rare. With only maltodextrin cheese dust and suboptimal levels of caffeine in my bloodstream, I cooked the beef patty until it “felt off the plate,” as the describes a former White House employee. The ketchup was a much-needed safety addition, as the well-cooked steak was so dry it would have remained a choking hazard without the tomato-based lubricant. I battled through the steak with a side salad topped with Roquefort vinaigrette, enjoying the greens.

Harris lunch: curd rice

It was at Harris’ lunch that the two regimes truly diverged for the first time. Until now, the snacks were the same and the breakfasts comparable. Curd rice, an Indian dish made from mashed rice, unsweetened yogurt, salt, pomegranate arils and spices immediately brightened my day. Hearty, delicious, and layered with flavors of coriander, green chili, cashews, and coconut oil, the dish reset my day as if the quick-eat Raisin Bran never even happened.

Dinner

The Trump dinner: two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, two Big Macs and a chocolate milkshake

Dinner was always going to be the Mount Everest of this business. I sat in the drive-thru aisle at McDonald’s, sipping my sixth Diet Coke of the day (Trump often drinks up to 12). The cashier opened the pickup window and handed me my order: two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, two Big Macs, and a chocolate milkshake. He asked, “Do you need any towels?” and I thought how polite it was that he assumed several people were eating this meal.

I came home, unwrapped my four sandwiches and sat down to eat what Trump is known to consume in a single session. I knew speed would play a role in my success in eating this outrageous amount of food, so I did it methodically, channeling Chestnut, Kobayashi, the Black Widow, and my 18-year-old self. As I took the last few sips of my chocolate shake, I debated whether I should turn off all the lights and lie down or go out into the world and start a fight. Both felt good.

The Harris Dinner: Okra on White Rice

Dinner on my day of eating at Kamala Harris was markedly different, although almost as filling. Gumbo is one of his favorite dishes, and I made mine from scratch – the roux, the broth, the spice mix – taking me almost two hours, which also seemed authentic to Harris . She finds peace preparing Sunday dinners, so it made sense to browse through breakfast and enjoy a delicious yet easy lunch. I had saved time and space in my day for a hearty bowl of okra over white rice. Filled with chicken, shrimp, andouille sausage, celery, onions, and herbs and spices, the regional New Orleans specialty kept me full. I’m looking forward to it Kamala HQ to submit an official gumbo recipe.

Dessert

Harris Dessert: Bourbon Caramel and Pecan Cake

Trump’s dessert was included with dinner, but Harris’ dessert arrived a few hours after I had digested the big gumbo. Just like Joe Biden, Harris loves treats. Since she is a fan of caramel and chocolate, I enjoyed a warm pecan and bourbon caramel cake with chocolate drizzle. And to relax, a bath and a cup of chamomile tea.

The consequences

A day of eating like Kamala Harris was confusing at times, but everything came together to leave me full, happy, and well-rested. A day of eating like Donald Trump left me feeling bludgeoning, thirsty, powerful, and strangely accomplished.

Each day seemed to begin with a busy morning schedule, transitioning to breakfast as more of an obstacle than a source of pleasure. Until early afternoon, at 1 p.m., the Harris and Trump regimes left me feeling the same: a little hungry, a little tired, and deeply opposed to the idea of ​​a light breakfast.

Related: Why Kamala Harris prepares her greens in a bathtub

While Trump’s eventual meals were consistent in terms of regionality (or lack thereof) and flavor, Harris’s were very different: Raisin Bran, Doritos, curd rice, and gumbo cover a wide swath of gastronomy. It’s a high-low mix, like something from a David Chang tasting menu. None of his dishes lacked punch either. The curd rice was creamy and savory, the okra was grassy and spicy, and the dessert and tea brought sweetness and floral notes. The day was an exercise in power struggles, and although it started a little rocky, it ended peacefully.

The Trump dinner was an act of aggression and achievement, and although I couldn’t choose between the darkness and the fist fights immediately afterward, I ultimately fell asleep that night. The next morning, I was hungover in a way I thought only alcohol could inspire. The 50-plus ounces of Diet Coke I’d ingested, plus a few days’ worth of sodium, left me feeling the same way the next day as an $8 half-liter of boxed wine. I stumbled on my usual walk around the neighborhood at 8 a.m., searching my calendar to see if I should cancel any meetings before taking half a day to recover. I couldn’t shake the headache for three hours and vowed to never eat four McDonald’s sandwiches in one sitting again, unless it was really, really funny.

A day in the life of Donald Trump

• 2 Big Macs

• 2 Filet-o-Fish sandwiches

• 58 ounces of Diet Coke

• 1 bag of Doritos

• 1 eight-ounce overcooked steak, plus one ounce of ketchup

• 4,468 milligrams total sodium

The result

A single food preference cannot define a person: ketchup on a well-done steak should not indicate that someone is unsophisticated and curdled rice should not suggest that someone is elitist. When a set of preferences is grouped in this way, the picture becomes clearer.

If I were to play a little word association, it would look like this:

• Kamala Harris: fiery, diverse, random, warm, hardworking

• Donald Trump: bold, salty, cheap, accessible, frat-boy

Do I describe the person or their diet? I’m willing to bet that neither campaign would take issue with 80% of the word associations (“frat-boy maybe, but who other than 19-year-old athletes eats more than one Big Mac at home?” times ?). More importantly, these two days of dining ultimately highlighted a political common ground between Harris and Trump: the supremacy of nacho cheese Doritos. That’s probably all we’ll get.