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Dinner with the president food, politics, and a history of breaking bread at the White House

"Perhaps the most significant meals in the world have been consumed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by the presumptive leaders of the free world. Thomas Jefferson had an affinity for eggplant and FDR for terrapin stew. Nixon ate a lump of cottage cheese topped with barbecue sauce every day and Obama reg...

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Main Author: Prud'homme, Alex (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.
Edition:First edition.
Subjects:
Presidents > United States > Biography.
Food > Political aspects > United States.
Food habits > United States.
Biographies.
Trivia and miscellanea.
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Summary:"Perhaps the most significant meals in the world have been consumed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by the presumptive leaders of the free world. Thomas Jefferson had an affinity for eggplant and FDR for terrapin stew. Nixon ate a lump of cottage cheese topped with barbecue sauce every day and Obama regularly had arugula. Now, Alex Prud'homme takes us to the dining tables of the White House to look at what the presidents chose to eat, how the food was prepared and by whom, and the context in which the meals were served, making clear that every one of these details speaks volumes about both the individual president and the country he presided over. We see how these gustatory messages touch on not only sometimes curious personal tastes, but also local politics, national priorities, and global diplomacy-not to mention all those dinner-table-conversation-taboos: race, gender, class, money, and religion. The individual stories are fascinating in themselves, but taken together-under the keen and knowledgeable eye of Prud'homme-they reveal that food is not just food when it is desired, ordered, and consumed by the President of the United States"--
Item Description:"This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf."
Physical Description:xxviii, 478 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 401-454) and index.
ISBN:9781524732219
1524732214
9780525433033
0525433031
Author Notes:ALEX PRUD'HOMME is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times , The New Yorker , and other publications. He is the co-author of Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France , and has authored or co-authored The French Chef in America , The Ripple Effect , Hydrofracking , The Cell Game , and Forewarned . He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.

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