*Scroll down for video of Hillary's conversation with Hamish & Andy*
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Gates are down under this week for talks with their Australian counterparts, and (via Politico) Hillary dropped in for a wide-ranging chat with Australian radio personalities Hamish & Andy. The radio duo and the secretary of state covered an array of key food-related issues, including chips/crisps, how Hillary and Bill negotiate takeout ordering, and the world's previously unknown food temperature crisis.
Secretary of State Clinton accepts a gift of crisps from Hamish & Andy:
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, thank you so much for joining us.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you for having me.
QUESTION: It's very exciting. And we start with a gift.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, excellent.
QUESTION: On behalf of the people's show, its potato chips -- or crisps, I think --
QUESTION: It's a flavor that the people of Australia invented. It's the gravy chip.
SECRETARY CLINTON: I am thrilled.
QUESTION: As you should be, Madam Secretary.
SECRETARY CLINTON: I cannot tell you how much this means to me.
QUESTION: That's great.
QUESTION: Are you a collector of chips? Is this your first --
SECRETARY CLINTON: I am an eater of chips.
QUESTION: We recommend not. Use by -- well, it was use by two years ago. So --
SECRETARY CLINTON: And you resealed the package?
QUESTION: No, no. This has never been opened.
QUESTION: They're the last remaining sealed ones. If you try to eat them, technically that's an assassination attempt by us.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Shall I wait until I am out of Australian air space?
QUESTION: Yes. (Laughter.) With a lot of foreign travel in your job --
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes.
QUESTION: -- you must get very good at accepting gifts.
SECRETARY CLINTON: I do, yes.
QUESTION: And making believe that you love them, just like them.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes. There is a whole course on how to do that.
QUESTION: Okay. Is there really?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I mean, usually it is a very happy expression on one's face. Now, sometimes the gifts are really hard to do that with.
QUESTION: Yes.
SECRETARY CLINTON: But you still -- you just have to persevere. And you can't look like you are not grateful.
QUESTION: Have you ever left one behind? Because --
SECRETARY CLINTON: No, no. We take them all.
QUESTION: All right, good.
SECRETARY CLINTON: We take them all. They go back, they're processed, we do thank you notes. You will get a thank you note.
QUESTION: It's not necessary. (Laughter.) Consider us (inaudible).
SECRETARY CLINTON: I have people on my delegation who will actually eat this.
QUESTION: Oh.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, yes. Because they'll eat anything.
Hillary on negotiating takeout with Bill:
QUESTION: It all requires excellent patience, great negotiation skills. Your husband also possesses those qualities. When you two can't agree on what to get for takeaway dinner, who wins out in that type of negotiation?
SECRETARY CLINTON: We practice different models of negotiation around important issues like that.
QUESTION: Yeah.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Because if I were to say to him, as I have on many occasions, "What shall we have for dinner tonight?" If he says to me, "Oh, I don't care; you choose," I know that's a really bad answer, because then I'm stuck with the responsibility.
QUESTION: Yeah.
SECRETARY CLINTON: So I will come back and I'll say, "All right. Well, so how do you feel about Chinese -- "
QUESTION: Oh, good.
SECRETARY CLINTON: " -- or Mexican or Italian?" And if he says a second time, "I really, really don't care," then I will go choose. Now, contrarily, if he says to me, "What do you want for dinner tonight," I will say, "What do you want?" Then he'll go, "Well, I was thinking of maybe picking up some Thai." And if I'm in a good humor, I'll say, "That's fine." But if I am feeling not enthusiastic about Thai, I'll say, "Well, maybe we should consider something else." And he'll say, "Well, then you choose." (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Do you ever eat before midnight? (Laughter.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: We are very late eaters. Yes, we do. I mean, this could go on -- this goes on for some time.
QUESTION: You want to make sure people don't know that he had half of the conversation, because you've got former President talking to the current Secretary of State, how do you feel about Chinese -- (laughter) -- I don't know. I don't really like Chinese. That could be catastrophic.
SECRETARY CLINTON: That's why we have our rooms swept every day. (Laughter.)
Secretary Clinton responds to Hamish & Andy's food temperature campaign:
QUESTION: Hamish and I have our own organization and it's called checkyourtemps.org. It encourages young people to check the temperature of their food before they bite into it, because if they don't, they'll sear off their mouth. That could ruin not just that meal, but plenty of meals to come.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Right.
QUESTION: And we save declining moral across the globe.
QUESTION: How important is that issue on a world scale do you think?
SECRETARY CLINTON: It has not previously been brought to my attention.
QUESTION: So you're breaking new ground in this way.
SECRETARY CLINTON: I am -- well, you're breaking new ground.
QUESTION: Well, we're happy to have you on for the --
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I have to tell you both, this is a --
QUESTION: Take this to the top.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Because if you just think about it, people go around with the tops of their mouths burnt. They can't communicate well.
QUESTION: You see a decline in peace.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Decline in peace. They might stop eating. That adds to the increase in hunger --
QUESTION: We've already got enough hunger already.
SECRETARY CLINTON: -- malnutrition in the world.
QUESTION: And it's so ironic, because food is what stopped them eating.
SECRETARY CLINTON: That's right.
QUESTION: So it's hurt by their -- your greatest friend.
SECRETARY CLINTON: So -- I know, and so check the temperature. It has a certain ring to it.
QUESTION: That's what we're saying.
SECRETARY CLINTON: And now I think you'll have to figure out how you get the thermometers to developing countries.
QUESTION: True.
SECRETARY CLINTON: This is going to be something you're going to have work out.
QUESTION: We'll need cheaper thermometers.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Maybe you could get a partnership with like the biggest thermometer maker in Australia.
QUESTION: Thermos.
SECRETARY CLINTON: And they might donate. What do you think?
QUESTION: Yeah, that's great.
QUESTION: I think that's a great solution. See, a lot of that -- we're very ideological, but I like you because you're a nuts-and-bolts type -- (laughter) -- just get things done.
SECRETARY CLINTON: That's -- well, I'm very practical.
Complete transcript available here at state.gov.
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