Posted on Feb 21, 2023
How presidential plates and palates have shaped politics
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A meal, when served at the White House, is much more than sustenance. It showcases the culinary preferences of the time, the tastes of the man in the Oval Office, and the political priorities of the leading administration.
President Barack Obama was the country’s first hard-core foodie. His successor, Donald Trump, tried a different tact, appealing to “Joe Six Pack” with his fast food dinners.
Early presidents understood how food could help persuade skeptics and assuage animosity. Thomas Jefferson famously presided over a meal between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to help broker agreement on various debates, including how to address the new nation’s post-war debts. The famous “dinner table bargain,” as it became known, was recreated in the hit musical “Hamilton” in the song “The Room Where it Happens.”
We take a historical, gastronomic tour of White House history with the author of the new book, “Dinner with the President,” and a former White House chef who cooked for three presidents.
President Barack Obama was the country’s first hard-core foodie. His successor, Donald Trump, tried a different tact, appealing to “Joe Six Pack” with his fast food dinners.
Early presidents understood how food could help persuade skeptics and assuage animosity. Thomas Jefferson famously presided over a meal between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to help broker agreement on various debates, including how to address the new nation’s post-war debts. The famous “dinner table bargain,” as it became known, was recreated in the hit musical “Hamilton” in the song “The Room Where it Happens.”
We take a historical, gastronomic tour of White House history with the author of the new book, “Dinner with the President,” and a former White House chef who cooked for three presidents.
How presidential plates and palates have shaped politics
Posted from the1a.org
Food/Chow
American History
White House
Washington
Posted 1 y ago
Responses: 4
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Andrew Jackson’s Inaugural Orange Punch
After General Jackson was sworn in as the seventh chief executive on March 4, 1829, he rode his white horse up Pennsylvania Avenue to the President’s House. He was trailed by “King Mob,” a raucous crowd of thousands of his admirers, who surged into the mansion in search of food and drink. As they guzzled orange punch, a standard drink of the day, furniture was scattered, glassware was smashed, and Jackson was squeezed tightly against a wall, until his associates helped him escape out a window.
“What a scene we did witness! The Majesty of the People had disappeared, and a rabble, a mob, of boys, negros, women, children, scrambling fighting, romping. What a pity what a pity! . . . [T]he whole house had been inundated by the rabble mob,” the socialite Margaret Bayard Smith reported of the mayhem. “Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses and such a scene of confusion took place as is impossible to describe. . . . But it was the People’s day, and the People’s President and the People would rule.” As the crowd grew rowdier, quick- witted stewards lured them outside with barrels of punch on the lawn.
Recently, the cocktail expert Eric Felten scoured nineteenth-century cookbooks in search of an orange punch recipe for The Wall Street Journal. Unimpressed by the overly sweet results—“not anything I’d trample White House furniture to get at”— he tweaked the punch with mulling spices, soda water, and Angostura bitters to make a sprightly rum cocktail. ”...
..."Andrew Jackson’s Inaugural Orange Punch
After General Jackson was sworn in as the seventh chief executive on March 4, 1829, he rode his white horse up Pennsylvania Avenue to the President’s House. He was trailed by “King Mob,” a raucous crowd of thousands of his admirers, who surged into the mansion in search of food and drink. As they guzzled orange punch, a standard drink of the day, furniture was scattered, glassware was smashed, and Jackson was squeezed tightly against a wall, until his associates helped him escape out a window.
“What a scene we did witness! The Majesty of the People had disappeared, and a rabble, a mob, of boys, negros, women, children, scrambling fighting, romping. What a pity what a pity! . . . [T]he whole house had been inundated by the rabble mob,” the socialite Margaret Bayard Smith reported of the mayhem. “Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses and such a scene of confusion took place as is impossible to describe. . . . But it was the People’s day, and the People’s President and the People would rule.” As the crowd grew rowdier, quick- witted stewards lured them outside with barrels of punch on the lawn.
Recently, the cocktail expert Eric Felten scoured nineteenth-century cookbooks in search of an orange punch recipe for The Wall Street Journal. Unimpressed by the overly sweet results—“not anything I’d trample White House furniture to get at”— he tweaked the punch with mulling spices, soda water, and Angostura bitters to make a sprightly rum cocktail. ”...
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I tell you Chip...that is definitely a perk for being President. Having your favorite meals anytime 24/7. I would probably bring a local restaurant owner with me. She owns a local soul food place and her food is off the rails. I eat there about once a week now but I would probably hire her.
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