Booker says ‘no’ when asked if Americans should follow his vegan diet

close

Video

Cory Booker rejects Joe Biden as 'safe bet' for Democratic voters

Democratic presidential candidates campaign to catch 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden; Peter Doocy reports from Altoona, Iowa.

If he’s elected to the White House, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., would become the nation’s first vegan president.

But that doesn’t mean he wants Americans to join him in eating a vegan diet.

Asked during Thursday’s Democratic presidential primary debate by bilingual moderator Jorge Ramos if Americans should stop eating meat as part of the efforts to combat climate change, Booker quickly answered.

“First of all, I want to say, no,” Booker said.

"Actually, I want to translate that into Spanish: No,” the senator playfully added, eliciting laughter from the debate audience.

ROSARIO DAWSON SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT - SHE'S BACKING BOOKER FOR PRESIDENT

Turning serious, Booker added that "factory farming is destroying and hurting our environment" and emphasized that factory farming is forcing family farmers out of business.

Ramos had cited experts who’ve said eating less meat would help the environment.

In an interview with Fox News in February – days after he launched his presidential campaign – Booker said, “I think that whatever you eat is a very personal decision and everybody should what eat what they want to eat. That’s America. That’s freedom…The last thing we want is the government telling us what to eat.”

"I think that whatever you eat is a very personal decision and everybody should what eat what they want to eat. That’s America. That’s freedom."

— Sen. Cory Booker, Democrat running for president

THE LATEST FROM FOX NEWS ON THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

But while Booker isn’t calling for an end to meat consumption, he is pushing for a moratorium on major factory farming mergers. The senator told Fox News in that February interview that massive corporate companies “are coming in here and polluting our water and creating unsustainable practices.”

And Booker – who’s been a vegan for five years – has also warned that the planet’s climate can’t survive the continuation of industrialized animal agriculture.