Dinner with the President with Alex Prud'homme
Apr 12, 2023
Today on Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon sits down with author Alex Prud'homme about his book, Dinner with the President, all about White House food. He is the coauthor of his aunt Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France, and merges Presidential history with dishes that were the height of sophistication at one point. An on ramp to this book and conversation can be summarized in this passage:
“Presidential meals often had personal meaning, and sometimes contained coded political messages. James Garfield and Dwight Eisenhower liked bowls of squirrel soup. William Howard Taft had a taste for possum. Zachary Taylor died after eating cherries and drinking cold milk. Woodrow Wilson had chronic indigestion and consumed dubious elixirs, yet he and Herbert Hoover saved millions of lives with innovative food policies. The gourmand Theodore Roosevelt and his gourmet cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt led the nation over bison steaks and terrapin soups. (A gourmand is someone who eats and drinks to wretched excess. A gourmet is a connoisseur of fine dining.) JFK liked clam chowder, LBJ favored chili, Richard Nixon ate cottage cheese almost every day, and George W. Bush liked ballpark hot dogs. The presidents’ food choices reflected the state of the nation.”
Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Guest: Alex Prud'homme
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Researcher: Valerie Hoback
Links to Full Episode:
About the Guest:
ALEX PRUD’HOMME is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other publications. He is the coauthor of Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France, and has authored or coauthored The French Chef in America, France is a Feast, Born Hungry, The Ripple Effect, Hydrofracking, The Cell Game, and Forewarned. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.
Related Links:
- Alex Prud'homme
- Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House
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