By Andrew T. Huse, BĂĄrbara Cruz, and Jeff Houck
Author
Why are we passionate about this?
Our obsessions with food and history mean that recipes are not the end of the journey, but the beginning. Recipes are an answer to a whole host of questions, challenges, and opportunities, and those are the stories that interest us. A recipe with no history is like the punch line with no preceding joke, incomplete at best.
Itâs all hereâfrom George Washingtonâs penchant for cracking walnuts with his teeth to Bidenâs famous weakness for ice creamâDinner with the President is a fascinating peek into the First Familiesâ eating habits en famille, as well as the diplomatic maneuvers behind state dinners and the gastro-intrigue girding geopolitics.
By the coauthor of Julia Childâs memoir, My Life in France, this meticulously researched account of White House meals is part history book, part food biography. Juicy behind-the-scenes accounts shed light on events like Andrew Jacksonâs 1829 inauguration party, Richard Nixonâs improbable gastro-diplomacy in China, and Jimmy Carterâs brokering peace in the Middle East over 13 days of food.
Last, readers will appreciate a compendium of selected White House recipes (some modernized to todayâs tastes and accessibility of ingredients), historical photographs (such as notable events at the White House and a few of the kitchens through the years), and images ofâŚ
A wonderfully entertaining, often surprising history of presidential taste, from the grim meals eaten by Washington and his starving troops at Valley Forge to Trumpâs fast-food burgers and Bidenâs ice creamâwhat they ate, why they ate it, and what it tells us about the state of the nationâfrom the coauthor of Julia Childâs best-selling memoir My Life in France
"[A] beautifully written book about how the presidential palate has helped shape America...Fascinating."âStanley Tucci
Some of the most significant moments in American history have occurred over meals, as U.S. presidents broke bread with friends or foe: Thomas Jeffersonâs nationbuilding receptions inâŚ
One of my fondest childhood memories is the holiday parties that my parents threw. Lying in bed I could hear roars of laughter crash the silence and gently ebb as the grownups shared stories and made merry. Later in life, I came to realize how different that kind of drinking is from the frat-boy binging of college and the anxious bracers at singlesâ bars. As an adult, I became a Catholic theologian, got married, and had a family of my own. My wife Alexandra and I have relished an evening cocktail together in order to unwind and catch up on each otherâs day (Alexandra has homeschooled all six of our children, which is itself a compelling reason to drink daily).
Will-Weber extensively researched the drinking habits of every U.S. president from George Washington to Barack Obama to compose this outstanding volume. Mint Juleps is brimming with fascinating facts. Did you know that the Carters, who were Southern Baptists, were much heavier drinkers than the Reagans? (Ronald Reagan, who effectively imposed the twenty-one-year drinking age on all fifty states, was the son of an alcoholic and wary of alcohol abuse). I think that I enjoyed the profile of George Washington the most, who not only plotted American independence over a pint or two but distilled his own applejack brandy as well.
Stroll through our countryâs memorable momentsâfrom George Washington at Mount Vernon to the days of Prohibition, from impeachment hearings to nuclear weapons negotiationsâand discover the role that alcohol played in all of them with Mark Will-Weberâs Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt: The Complete History of Presidential Drinking.
As America transformed from fledgling nation to world power, one element remained constant: alcohol. The eighteenth century saw the Father of His Country distilling whiskey in his backyard. The nineteenth century witnessed the lavish expenses on wine by the Sage of Monticello, Honest Abeâs inclination toward temperance, and the slurred speech of theâŚ
