MANILA, Philippines?President Benigno Aquino's spokesman on Friday defended the Philippine leader's culinary tastes after newspapers showed him eating hotdogs in New York, where he attended a UN summit.

The 50-year-old bachelor came in for heavy criticism on social networking websites for his street-side food trips.

"Two views here -- not presidential or down-to-earth. He loves to eat hotdogs. When in the US you would like to try the hotdogs," his spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters.

"That was not scripted. He was looking forward to it."

Aquino, who comes from a wealthy family, has sought to portray himself as the opposite of predecessor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, once criticized for treating her entourage to a $20,000-meal at the famous New York restaurant Le Cirque.

Aquino had pledged to be frugal in his ongoing US visit, his first foreign trip as leader, bringing only a small delegation with him.

But visitors on Aquino's popular Facebook account begged to differ.

"Do we really need this?," wrote one anonymous commentator.

"What if the food is poisoned?"

Lacierda said Aquino spent $54 to treat himself and members of his Cabinet?as well as Filipino reporters?to hotdogs, while stressing that the President has also since gone to a steak house and eaten pasta.