From my list on reads for when youâre hungry.
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.
Andrew's book list on reads for when youâre hungry
Why did Andrew love this book?
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
1 author picked Dinner with the President as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
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