Dinner With The President by Alex Prud'homme

This book is best enjoyed if you are some for whom food is important rather than for whom politics or history are more important. The subtitle is: Food, Politics, and Breaking Bread at the White House, which pretty much summs up what the book is about. I read about it in a section of The Week devoted to recent books that revolve around food, and I very much enjoyed this. I did not realize it, but the author is the grand nephew of Julia Childs, with his grandfather and her husbands father having been twins. The book portrays 26 American presidents White House kitchens and entertaining styles. In a literal sense, these meals reflect the preferences of presidential palates. For example, George H.W. Bush despised broccoli; Barack Obama had a “global palate”; Richard Nixon didn’t care what he ate and yet he opened up China by eating and entertaining there; Abraham Lincoln loved his cornbread; and Lyndon B. Johnson doted on Texas barbecue. In a broader sense, whatever food is served in the White House influences the nation’s economic, social, cultural and political climate. Food even has the power to bring together disparate parties for productive political debate. There are quite a few good stories in here, not everyone comes off well, and while there are some inaccuracies , it is a very enjoyable read.