Honoring President’s Day with 23 past Commander in Chief's favorite foods

According to the folks at Mount Vernon, George and Martha Washington’s former home, America’s first president was a huge fan of hoecakes. Hoecakes, also known as Johnnycakes, are cornmeal flatbreads that are prepared, served, and consumed similar to pancakes. Nearly every morning, Washington dined on hoecakes covered with butter and honey with a cup of hot tea.

We wanted to include John Adams’ love for apple pandowdy in here simply because most people don’t know what the heck apple pandowdy is. This dessert is similar to apple pie, but it’s sweetened with maple syrup or molasses (Abigail Adams’ recipe used the latter), and “dowdy” refers to breaking up the crust and pushing some of it into the bubbling filling halfway through baking.

Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Jefferson didn’t invent macaroni & cheese or introduce America to it, but the fact that we need to clarify this tidbit shows how highly Jefferson regarded the cheesy comfort food. He was first introduced to mac & cheese while visiting France and Italy, later served it at his home in Monticello, and even had his own recipe!

President John Tyler’s favorite food was pudding, but in his time (the early 1800s), that actually referred to both traditional puddings as well as custard pies. This is why his famous family recipe—which was often served at the White House—bears the name “Tyler Pudding Pie.” 

Abraham Lincoln was a man of simple tastes. His favorite food? Apples. His favorite drink? Water. Really. In terms of a food that actually requires some sort of preparation, Honest Abe was a fan of corn cakes, which are very similar to the aforementioned hoecakes, but in addition to cornmeal they also include a heaping serving of actual corn. Lincoln enjoyed them in his youth, and as an adult, he claimed he could eat them “twice as fast” as two chefs could make them.

Born and raised in the Carolinas, Andrew Johnson’s favorite meal was a Southern dish called “Hoppin’ John.” If you’re unfamiliar, it’s like a rice bowl that also includes black-eyed peas, onion, peppers, bacon, and several spices.

If you only remember four facts about Ulysses S. Grant, they should be: 1) He was a heroic Union Army General, 2) He was the 18th president, 3) He appears on the $50 bill, and 4) He loved rice pudding. He even had a favorite rice pudding recipe, which featured a lemon sauce.

President Garfield was reportedly a difficult man to feed, as the only actual meal he cared for was squirrel soup. And no, that’s not a fun name for a delicious dessert like monkey bread—it’s an actual soup made with squirrels. During his brief presidency, Garfield once gave a White House officer orders to hunt squirrels on the grounds, and the soup recipe even made the official White House Cookbook of 1887.

President Grover Cleveland’s love of snickerdoodles is well documented, and the Grover Cleveland Birthplace in Caldwell, New Jersey, once even held a snickerdoodle bake-off for the Fourth of July a few years back. No surprise that Cleveland craved these cookies, as they became quite popular in the 1880s, precisely when he was in office.

A man who believed in physical fitness, President Roosevelt would start most days with hard-boiled eggs, rolls, and coffee. Still, Teddy found plenty of opportunities to tuck into his favorite comfort food: fried chicken with white gravy. And you couldn’t serve the gravy on the side, or he wouldn’t eat it. The gravy needed to be poured onto the chicken so it has time to soak in.

You might be wondering about the favorite food of our most corpulent commander-in-chief, William Howard Taft. President Taft was a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy who specifically preferred steak. In fact, he started every day with a 12-ounce steak, two oranges, buttered toast, and coffee.

Daisy Bonner cooked for Franklin D. Roosevelt for 20 years, and according to her, his favorite meal was a dish called “country captain.” If you’re unfamiliar with it, don’t worry, we also had to look it up. It’s a curried chicken and rice dish that’s popular in the Southern United States, although it obviously originally came from India. Country captain was also a favorite dish of Gen. George S. Patton!

As president, Eisenhower would sometimes request more complex meals like succotash or oxtail soup, but would be just as content eating a TV dinner in front of the tube with the first lady. However, President Eisenhower was also comfortable cooking―even in the White House—and would simmer batches of his patented “old-fashioned” beef stew for hours on end.

JFK wasn’t a big food guy—he frequently had to be reminded to eat—but he had a few go-to meals. The most notable one is an obvious reflection of his Massachusetts upbringing: New England-style chowder. It wasn’t clam chowder, however, as Kennedy prefered fish chowder.

First Lady Pat Nixon’s meatloaf became so famous during her husband’s presidency that the White House would regularly mail copies of the recipe to people who asked about it. However, Nixon was actually notorious for another food that he ate nearly every morning: cottage cheese, which he—for some crazy reason—would drizzle with ketchup. 

President Ford enjoyed a good pot roast for dinner and regularly ate English muffins with breakfast, but one of his more unique preferences came at dessert time. Gerald Ford’s sweet tooth called for butter pecan ice cream, which he became somewhat known for—even post-presidency.

Jimmy Carter’s name is synonymous with peanuts, but that wasn’t his favorite food. President Carter was a breakfast guy whose preference for grits mixed with cheese and eggs (which he would often make himself) reflects his Georgia upbringing.

We’re guessing you knew this one already, as Ronald Reagan’s love of jelly beans was absolutely legendary. His affinity started back in the 1960s, when Reagan was the governor of California. The Herman Goelitz Candy Company sent Ronnie a monthly shipment of “mini jelly beans” then, and these deliveries continued throughout his presidency. The company became a household name when Reagan began favoring their new type of jelly bean, which was released under the name Jelly Belly.

In terms of food, the first President Bush was probably most famous for absolutely hating broccoli. He instead preferred something that was the polar opposite of that healthy green vegetable: pork rinds. George H. W. Bush mentioned that he liked to munch on pork rinds with a bit of Tabasco sauce, and sales of the salty snack subsequently skyrocketed.

Bill Clinton’s love of McDonald’s was famous enough to inspire a “Saturday Night Live” sketch poking fun at his penchant for burgers and fries. The first lady tried to introduce healthier options into the president’s meals, but it took a 2004 quadruple bypass surgery and a 2010 emergency stent procedure to change his ways. Bill switched to a plant-based diet and slimmed down as a result.

Well, we know George W. Bush at least used to be a fan of pretzels—he famously fell off a couch in 2002 while choking on one—but his favorite foods actually both involve cheese. Dubya likes grilled cheese sandwiches made with white bread and Kraft singles, but his favorite food to order (and sometimes make) while in the White House was cheeseburger pizza.

Barack Obama reportedly enjoys hearty dishes like chili (which he has a family recipe for) and has said he likes hamburgers, hot dogs, and guacamole with chips, but when asked about his favorite food, the former president replied that it’s broccoli. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but perhaps he was just giving an answer that fit with First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against obesity.

Like many of his predecessors, Donald Trump also enjoys the staples of steak, meatloaf, and burgers—specifically McDonald’s. But what’s more unique is how he likes his steak: well done with ketchup. A curious selection for a man who used to have his own brand of steaks!