Sporting a bruise on his cheek the size of a golf ball, President Bush yesterday made light of what is now the most famous pretzel in history.
"Always listen to your mother," he told workers at a John Deere tractor factory in Illinois. "My mother always said: 'When you're eating pretzels, chew before you swallow'."
Bruised but unbowed, Mr Bush was determined to press on with work after his brief fainting spell on Sunday.
"I feel great," he told reporters on the White House lawn as he prepared to board a helicopter for a two-day trip to the Midwest and Louisiana.
His spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, said the President had been laid low by the pretzel while watching a National Football League game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins on the third floor of the White House. The First Lady, Ms Laura Bush, was reading elsewhere in the building. The President's only company was of the canine variety, Spot and Barney.
Mr Bush does not remember choking, but appears to have fallen from a sofa to the floor banging his cheek and splitting his lip after swallowing the pretzel awkwardly.
(For the uninitiated, a pretzel is a savoury biscuit usually in the form of a brittle stick or circular crusty twig. Unlike the Irish potato chip, the pretzel is available free in most American bars where it acts as a thirst enhancer. There are soft and hard pretzels.)
The White House physician, Dr Richard Tubb, who carried out tests on Mr Bush after the incident, said the pretzel probably pressed on the vagus nerve, causing the heart to slow temporarily, thereby triggering the fainting.
All Mr Bush's vital signs were normal, he said yesterday, although several aides suggested he had been showing signs of tiredness and flu-like synmptoms over the weekend.
Such fainting fits are not uncommon. Known as "vasovagal syncope", they are believed to be caused by fear and even intestinal cramps.
"I hit the deck. Woke up and there was Barney and Spot showing a lot of concern," Mr Bush said. "I didn't realise what happened before I looked at the mirror and my glasses cut the side of my face."
He added: "I had good blood pressure last night. Good blood pressure this morning."
The Vice President, Mr Dick Cheney, was notified of the fainting spell - "as a courtesy", Mr Fleischer said. The markets were unruffled by the news.
