DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT

A journalist shows us what our presidents liked to eat.

Prud’homme, author of several books about Julia Child, brings his interest in cuisine to a lively consideration of the culinary preferences of 25 presidents, from George Washington to Joe Biden. In the White House, he notes, food is both “sustenance and metaphor,” reflecting the tastes of the nation’s top leader as well as the economic, agricultural, political, and social conditions of the country. The author reveals each president’s attitude about food, which ranges from abstemious (Woodrow Wilson, who suffered from chronic indigestion) to disinterested (Nixon) to adventurous. Obama, both praised and criticized for being a “foodie,” had, in the author’s estimation, “the most globally informed palate.” Some men preferred food they grew up eating: Lincoln loved “raw honey and corn bread,” James Garfield and Eisenhower were partial to squirrel stew, and Jimmy Carter loved grits, with a few eggs dropped in. Eisenhower was an accomplished cook of hearty American cuisine, such as grilled steak, boiled potatoes, and apple pie. Truman, like Ike, was a meat-and-potatoes man, and Lyndon Johnson served guests traditional Texas barbecue. Whatever they ate in private (jelly beans, Mexican food, and sweet desserts for Reagan; cottage cheese for Nixon), they realized the significance of the menu at state dinners: occasions for the president to assert his power, showcase “the best of American ingredients,” and display the prowess of the White House cooks. The Kennedys, comfortable with an international palate, were, to their guests’ delight, masters of the art. Prud’homme appends the history with 10 recipes—all of which he tried and some of which he updated—including George Washington’s grilled striped bass; Martha Washington’s preserved cherries; Thomas Jefferson’s Tarragon Vinegar salad dressing; Wilson’s breakfast of two raw eggs dropped in grape juice; Franklin Roosevelt’s reverse martini, heavy on the vermouth; and Carter’s grits.

An entertaining, well-researched, politically tinged gastronomic history.