A lot has changed food-wise, since George Washington became the first President of the United States in 1789. And each of his presidential successors had distinct food preferences and habits. Some had very plain tastes, some were more decadent, and others were a little bit wacky when it came to food. Wondering which president would go to town on a plate of pasta with red sauce? Read on to find out.
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George Washington Wore Dentures And Loved To Eat…
hoecakes and other soft foods. This Southern specialty resembles pancakes but is actually made with cornmeal. Washington liked to eat it daily for breakfast with butter and honey, but in our day, there’s plenty of things you can top it with, whether sweet or savory!
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John Adams’s Wife Often Made This Special Dessert Known As…
Apple Pandowdy. This 19th-century apple pie distinguishes itself from the classic recipe, in that the dough is broken up into pieces and then arranged atop the filling, rather than being left whole. Abigail Adams would make this delicacy with the crops of her husband’s New England Harvest.
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Thomas Jefferson Was Especially Fond Of This Country’s Cuisine…
France. You might have him to thank for making the famous mac & cheese dish popular in the US. During his time spent as a foreign diplomat in Paris, Jefferson became a gourmet and fell in love with French food. Among the specialties he came across was gratin de pâtes (pasta gratin), which he later would serve at a state dinner.
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James Madison Was A Picky Eater But His Wife Was…
a wonderful cook. She would throw lavish parties and often made Southern-style classics, such as Hoppin’ John, made with black-eyed peas and rice, bacon and onion. Alongside this easy side dish, she’d serve Virginia Ham and Potomac River oysters.
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James Monroe Introduced This Tradition To The White House…
Presidential China. He was the first president to have a full China set created in his name. Funny thing is, he couldn’t afford it, so the government ended up having to foot the bill.
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John Quincy Adams Had Simpler Tastes And Loved…
Fruit. Other than that, little is known about his eating habits or food preferences, as he hardly wrote about them in his diaries.
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Andrew Jackson Had A French Chef Who Would Make Him…
Floating Islands, also known as oeufs à la neige in French. It’s a custard-based dessert topped with fluffy meringue.
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Martin Van Buren Had Fine Tastes, Especially For…
oysters. He wasn’t particularly interested in sweets, but he did have a penchant for Dutch and English cuisine.
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William Henry Harrison Would Often Eat This Kind Of Stew…
Squirrel Stew. Harrison was only president for a month before his death, but he especially loved “Burgoo” stew for its adaptability to feeding large crowds. It’s a hearty, spicy meat and vegetable stew typically made with tomatoes, corn, okra, lima beans, cabbage and potatoes. While squirrel or other game meats were commonly used back in Harrison’s day, it’s mostly cooked with chicken, pork or mutton today (phew).
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John Tyler Often Served This Food To His 14 Kids…
Indian Pudding. Tyler had a major sweet tooth, and this 18-century dessert was one of his favorites. It’s a traditional sweet dish that originated in New England and was based off the British dish “hasty pudding,” but instead of wheat, it’s made from cornmeal, milk and molasses. English colonists referred to cornmeal as “Indian meal”, hence the name “Indian pudding.”
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James Polk Was All About This Southern Specialty…
Corn pone. No, it’s not quite the same as cornbread, and it can be prepared in multiple ways. This Southern staple has a thicker, more pliable cornmeal dough and is best cooked in a cast-iron skillet. Polk loved pretty much all Southern cuisine and had a simple palate.
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Zachary Taylor Was A Big Fan Of This Creole Delicacy…
Calas. These little fritters are actually made with leftover rice and a sweet egg batter, before being deep fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar. They’re a variation on New Orleans-style doughnuts or beignets that Taylor adored.
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Millard Fillmore Installed The First…
cast iron wood-burning stove in the White House. He had very plain tastes and was a kind of meat-and-potatoes type of guy. He also really loved soup.
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Franklin Pierce Is Known For Once Saying…
“There’s nothing left to do but get drunk” to one of his friends. The drinks must have paired well with fried clams, one of his fave New Hampshire specialties.
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James Buchanan Used To Always Have Fresh…
butter. It was sent to him from Philadelphia in a locked brass-bound kettle. That sounds like a pretty smart presidential move to us.
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Abraham Lincoln Was Not A Big Eater, But He Did Enjoy…
Chicken Fricassee. Otherwise, he often left his food barely touched or simply saw food as fuel rather than as a source of pleasure.
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Andrew Johnson Used To Host Parties Around This Food…
Popcorn! The nearly-impeached President loved hosting popcorn parties, and he preferred his native Southern Tennessee-style cooking in the White House.
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Ulysses S. Grant’s Was Obsessed With…
rice pudding. His wife, Julia, had hired an Italian steward named Valentino Melah, who tried to put more elegant twists on the plain dessert that Grant couldn’t get enough of.
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Rutherford B. Hayes Preferred To Eat And Drink…
in moderation. That went for all kinds of foods, including his favorite breakfast: cornmeal pancakes.
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James A. Garfield Suffered From Stomach Problems But Drank A Lot Of…
milk. It was his favorite drink, and he even received a cow as a gift from a Baltimore dairy company, to ensure he always had a fresh glass.
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Chester A. Arthur Used To Serve This Dish At Lavish Dinners…
Turtle Steak. Yes, you read that right. Turtle was widely consumed by Americans up until the late 70’s and early 80’s, often in the form of turtle soup, which was also considered a delicacy. Today, it’s mostly found in New Orleans as a regional specialty or in some Caribbean cuisines.
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Grover Cleveland’s Go-To Food Was…
corned beef and cabbage. He also happens to be known as one of the least healthiest presidents in history.
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Benjamin Harrison’s Entire Family Was Addicted To…
corn. They especially enjoyed corn soup, but otherwise Harrison would just eat a cob of it with butter and salt.
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William McKinley Served This At His Silver Wedding Anniversary…
Hot lobster salad. He loved his wife Ida deeply, and their anniversary was celebrated over two days with other dishes, including chicken salad, olives, ham, pickles, macaroons and petit fours.
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Theodore Roosevelt Would Have Loved IHOP because…
he believed that fried chicken should always be served doused in white gravy. We also have him to thank for federal food safety regulations.
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William Howard Taft Couldn’t Get Enough Of…
steak and potatoes. One of his late White House staff even claimed there was always steak for breakfast. That might explain why Taft was the heaviest US President ever at more than 300 pounds.
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Woodrow Wilson Was Healthier Than His Predecessor And Preferred…
a good chicken salad. Otherwise, Wilson was pretty indifferent toward food, to the point that his doctor worried about his eating habits.
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Warren G. Harding’s Wife Introduced This Classic Comfort Food To The White House…
chicken pot pie. Although his administration’s scandals weren’t exposed until after his presidency, you can be sure there was nothing unpleasant hiding underneath the flaky pastry of his wife’s meals.
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Calvin Coolidge Once Said He Never Ate Anything As Good As…
his mom’s apple pork pie. No, that’s not a typo, his mom had a dessert recipe for apple pie that included pork. Who would have thought?!
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Herbert Hoover Enjoyed This Luxurious Dish…
Lobster. Which, if you can believe it, used to be cheaper than chicken 100 years ago.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt And His Wife Served This Surprising Food To The King And Queen Of England…
Hot Dogs. It’s the first time reigning British Monarchs had visited the States, so it seems as though the Roosevelts felt obliged to give them a proper American welcome.
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Harry Truman Only Ate His Steak Cooked To…
well-done. He is once quoted as saying, “Only coyotes and predatory animals eat raw beef.” Not sure if the French would agree, Mr. Truman.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower Was An Excellent Cook Whose Specialty Was…
beef stew. He even had his own personal cookbook, with an old-fashioned recipe for this favorite comfort food.
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John F. Kennedy Had His Own Recipe For…
New England clam chowder. Apparently, he was big on soup, particularly for lunch.
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Lyndon B. Johnson Is Credited For Bringing This Popular Cuisine To The White House…
Texas BBQ. He especially loved a meal of ribs, baked beans, potato salad, corn, coleslaw, pickles, onions and sourdough biscuits. Just a light meal for one…
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Richard M. Nixon Watched His Weight By Regularly Eating This For Lunch…
Cottage cheese with fruit. Proof that some presidents are just like us.
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Gerald Ford Ate This For Sunday Breakfast…
Waffles with strawberries and sour cream. He also just really liked strawberries in general.
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Jimmy Carter Got His Important Visitors Hooked On…
Grits. He especially loved them baked with lots of cheese. It became a traditional side dish served to White House guests while Carter was President.
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Ronald Reagan Couldn’t Live Without This Candy…
Jelly Beans. The brand Jelly Belly even put out special blueberry-flavored beans for his inauguration, where attendees ate more than three tons of the chewy candies.
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George Herbert Walker Bush Hated This Vegetable…
Broccoli. He never liked it as a kid, and he publicly declared his grudge against it when he became President.
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Bill Clinton’s Guilty Pleasure Was…
chicken enchiladas. The 42nd President of the United States was better known for his extra-marital affairs, but nothing would come between him and a plate of greasy enchiladas or other fast foods, such as jalapeno burgers, ribs, tacos, etc. He is now mostly vegan, following two heart-related surgeries.
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George W. Bush Preferred To Combine These Two Junk Foods Into One…
Cheeseburger and Pizza. Bush also required his meals to be served promptly and was usually a fast eater. We wonder how long it took ol’ Georgie to wolf one of these babies down.
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Barack Obama Loves to Sit Down to…
a bowl of chili, made with ground turkey or beef and served on a bed of rice. He’s also a fan of a good burger (his 2009 “off-the-record” visit to a DC Five Guys made a huge buzz), and he once told Jerry Seinfeld that his guilty pleasure is nachos saying, “That’s one of those where I have to have it taken away. I’ll have guacamole coming out of my eyeballs.” Despite these normal comfort food cravings, Obama follows a pretty healthy diet most of the time.
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Obama Once Dined With…
the late, great famed TV host, author and chef Anthony Bourdain in Hanoi, Vietnam. They talked about hot dogs, among other things.
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Donald Trump is a Huge Fan of…
Fast food. Trump is known for his love of McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King and Wendy’s, among others. His former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski even wrote a book called Let Trump Be Trump, in which he claims that Trump’s preferred McDonald’s order is “two big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a small chocolate shake — a total of 2,430 calories.” If the rumors are true, he also has a habit of drinking 12 Diet Cokes a day. But…he abstains from alcohol.
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President Joe Biden’s Favorite Pasta Dish is…
angel hair pomodoro. According to The Washington Post, every time Biden has a paid speaking engagement, he requests an Italian meal of “angel hair pomodoro, a caprese salad, topped off with raspberry sorbet with biscotti.” The meal is even written into his contracts, and Obama once confirmed Biden’s love of the dish saying, “pasta with red sauce, he can go deep on that.”
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President Joe Biden Also Absolutely Loves…
ice cream. According to The Hill, he once introduced himself by saying, “My name is Joe Biden, and I love ice cream.” He said that in 2016 when visiting the headquarters of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream in Columbus, Ohio. In January 2021, Jeni’s shared a press release, revealing that they’d created a limited edition “White House Chocolate Chip” flavor, in honor of Biden’s go-to order: double scoop of chocolate chip in a waffle cone.
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The President’s Groceries Are Paid For…
out of their own pocket. So you can rest easy knowing your tax money isn’t encouraging any gluttonous eating habits.
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The White House Can Serve Hors D’Oeuvres For…
more than 1,000 guests. For dinners, however, they can (only) do 140 covers.
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The Current White House Executive Chef Is…
a Filipino-American woman. Cristeta Comerford was born in the Philippines and majored in food technology before emigrating to the US when she was 23 years old. In 2005, during George W. Bush’s administration, she became the first woman and first person of Asian descent to fill this coveted White House role. Talk about living the American dream!
Hungry for more? Here’s The Royals and their Food: 30 Facts You Never Knew.
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