Baked apple slices with cheese

19th century gastronomer Baked apple slices with cheese-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin observed “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are. Indeed, there is no better measure of personal taste than the food one eats. What our presidents eat is a function family heritage, personal preference, physical condition and social obligation.

In sum: a president’s favorite meal is NOT always what’s served in the White House. If the president liked to cook it’s sometimes noted. Cookbooks published by historic sites–example: Dining at Monticello, Damon Lee Fowler 5. Everyone knows Barack Obama is our 44th president. Why does this site only list 43? One of our presidents served two non-concurrent terms. Grover Cleveland was both 22nd and 24th president.

Presumably, his food preferences remained unchanged. According to his biographers, our first president did, indeed, love cherries. Washington said: “My manner of living is plain, and I do not mean to be put out by it. A glass of wine and a bit on mutton are always welcome. Those who expect more will be disappointed.

This, however, is an example of the “plain living” offered guests at a Presidential dinner: There was an elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams, etc. Breakfast seems to have been the only meal in the Presidential house that was relaxed. At least the report of Henry Wansey, and English manufacturer, who had breakfast with the President and his family on June 8, 1794, indicates this to be so: “Mrs. George Washington’s cherry tree chopping story has long been debunked by historians as nationalistic myth.