Dining with Lincoln and Washington {Foodie Friday}.
Written by Lyndi Fultz of NWA Foodie

On Tuesday everyone got allllll worked-up and excited about Valentines Day when clearly their focus was in the wrong place.

C’mon people… you missed Lincoln’s birthday last weekend!

Thankfully you STILL HAVE TIME for Washington’s birthday next Wednesday.  Shew!  I almost felt sorry for you if you had missed that one, too.

Let’s get real.

Does anyone really go all-out for President’s Day weekend?

Where are ads for that day?  The gifts?  The lavish family meals?

Since the powers-that-be determined that both Lincoln and Washington should have their own day, let’s dig a little deeper into the fetishes of two of our founding fathers.

Food fetishes, that is.

A quick google search reveals a surprising amount of juicy gossip when it comes to their habits and desires.   “Juicy” and “gossip” may be stretching it just a bit, I realize.  Although, I must admit, I am curious about the dining delights during that day and age.  Aren’t you curious, too?

President George Washington

According to foodtimeline.org. [insert link: http://www.foodtimeline.org/presidents.html#washington] “George Washington’s own eating habits were relatively simple. One observer of the time said that he “took what came with philosophy”; certainly no one could accuse our first President of having been a gourmet. Custis, Martha Washington’s grandson, described Washington’s food preferences: “He ate heartily, but was not particular in his diet, with the exception of fish, of which he was excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert, drank a home-made beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira wine”…A special passion of the President’s was nuts. He would buy hazelnuts and shellbacks by the barrel.”

There you have it.  He ate simply and heartily and was excessively fond of fish and nuts.  If it is true, Madeira may have been his best friend.  Or at least got him across the Delaware River more comfortably.

Here’s an idea.  Perhaps Monday should be called Madeira-Monday instead of President’s Day?

Let’s move on.

President Abraham Lincoln

Let’s learn what foodtimeline.org’s [insert link: http://www.foodtimeline.org/presidents.html#lincoln]  has to say about the man who instituted my personal favorite holiday, Thanksgiving.  “Lincoln relied on food to feed the furnace. He ate well when served a tasty meal, but was usually so preoccupied with problems of politics and power that he gave little thought to food unless faced with it. Then he could enjoy a delicious meal as well as the next one…”Family meals at the Lincolns’ were routine. Early in the morning the President liked a “good hot cup of coffee.” But often he would forget about breakfast until 9 or 10A.M. John Hay, one of Lincoln’s privage secretaries, occasionally ate with the President. He noted that the frugal repast might consist of “an egg, a piece of toast, coffee, etc.” On occasion breakfast was a single egg. For lunch, Hay reported, Lincoln “took a little lunch–a biscuit, a glass of milk in winter, some fruit or grapes in summer…He ate less than anyone I know.” Lunch was usually eaten irregularly…”

Boring.

If given the opportunity, I would skip dinner with Lincoln and accept that invitation with Washington.

Here is what I suggest…

This weekend, in honor of President’s Day Weekend, take a few minutes and do a google search on “favorite foods of presidents” and review the culinary delights, passions, and good-old-fashioned-yarns about our forty-four presidents.

At the very least, pick up a bottle of Madeira.  That is what I’m going to do.

It’s only right.

Eat well, my friends.  Eat well.

Lyndi