Foodies in Chief, Part II

As we continue through "President's Week", here are some more food-related tidbits about our country's past leaders.

"I didn't order collard greens and grits."

• Pierce--Frankie wasn't much of a food fan.  It was said that state dinners during his administration were "not up to par."
• Buchanan--This was our only bachelor president and the only one from Pennsylvania.  His young niece acted as First Lady and hosted a bunch of extravagant parties in the White House.  And, although he was partial to French food, Buchanan was also a big fan of Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. 
• Lincoln--By many accounts, Abe tended to be a bit to preoccupied to be into food.  You could say that he had a lot on his plate.  Still, he apparently ate well--no matter what was served to him.
• A. Johnson--Very particular about his dairy products, he established a dairy to specifically stock the White House kitchen.  He was partial to cooking from his home state of Tennesee, especially duck, wild turkey and sweet potato dishes.
• Grant--The former general was a simple eater, but brought an army cook with him to the White House.  It turned out that he wasn't that great a cook.  So Mrs. Grant brought in an Italian to cater with top-of-the-line food.  Big breakfasts were a favorite of Grant.
• Hayes--In short, Hayes' food mantra was "everything in moderation".
• Garfield--He LOVED lasagna.  Oh, sorry. Wrong Garfield.  This one was partial to squirrel soup and apple pie.
• Arthur--Beside Tom Jefferson, Chet Arthur was our most foodie president ever.  He ate light meals, but always wanted it prepared well and served with style.
• Cleveland--When entertaining, the Cleveland era was filled with Victorian style.  In private, he preferred comfort food--corned beef and cabbage was a favorite.
• B. Harrison--Ben Harrison enjoyed all sorts of food, but was partial to soups.  He also loved simple comfort foods as long as they were well prepared.
• McKinley--This president enjoyed plain foods in very large quantities.
• T. Roosevelt--As you might expect, Teddy was an adventurous eater.  And he loved to eat.  He was wealthy, so he could afford pretty much anything that he wanted: seafood, beef, ham, all sorts of game.  He was also a big coffee drinker.
• Taft--As you might expect with Big Howie, he liked all kinds of food--and lots of it.  Some favorites were turtle soup, seafood, peach salad, salted almonds.  Just don't serve him eggs.  He couldn't stand them.
• Wilson--In contrast to his predecessor, Woody didn't eat much at all.  In fact, his doctors were often worried about his low weight.  If he had a favorite food, it would probably be strawberry ice cream.

Tomorrow, we'll finish up with Harding through Obama.

Foodies in Chief

In honor of President's Day, I thought I'd do a little research about the relationship of our Commanders in Chief and food.  Some are obvious--Reagan liked jellybeans, Bush the Elder didn't like broccoli, Jefferson liked gourmet food and Taft liked pretty much anything that was put in front of him.  But there is a lot that you don't know about.

I'll just give a few interesting tidbits, but if you want to read more--much more--click here.

I'll follow the lead of car companies and other retailers that have "President's Week" sales and spread my history lesson over a few days.  So here they are starting with Numero Uno.

"I'm in the mood for hot wings. 
How 'bout you guys?"

• Washington--George and Martha enjoyed simple meals--like many people of the time.  Their home, Mount Vernon, was completely self-sufficient in raising and growing food for the family.  He saw himself as a farmer above all.
• J. Adams--Adams spent a lot of time abroad and developed a taste of fine food from living in England and France.  At home, however, simple New England fare was the norm.
• Jefferson--Of all of our presidents, TJeff (as his friends would call him these days) was our biggest foodie.  He had a very adventurous palate--much of it developed from his traveling abroad.  He loved French cuisine especially, but was also a fan of traditional Southern cooking, among others.  At his home, Monticello, he raised a huge amount of fruits and vegetables and had one of the first successful wineries in the new country.
• Madison--Not much is known about Madison's tastes, but his wife, Dolley, was known as the Hostest with the Mostest during their time in the White House with lavish dinner parties consisting of Virginian and French foods.
• Monroe--It was said that Monroe "loved" food, but not much else has been recorded.  He was partial to French cuisine from his days spent in France.
• J. Q. Adams--Simply said, the son of our 2nd president had little interest in food.
• Jackson--Andy loved foods--all types and cuisines.  Some of his favorites: spiced round of tenderloin with mini biscuits, roasted lamb with rosemary, French-style rabbit, "Old Britches" (green beans cooked with bacon), duck, goose, "Old Hickory" nut soup.
• Van Buren--Marty was known as a foodie, second only to Jefferson to this point.  He demanded a perfectly set table for his meals.  He also avoided sweets, eating fruit for desserts.
• Harrison--He was only president for about a month, so there isn't much recorded about his culinary likes and dislikes, but it was said that he did enjoy good food.  And he was also very fond of hard cider.
• Tyler--Married twice, Tyler had 14 children (7 from each marriage), so it was said that desserts were very popular in his household.  State dinners during the second half of his administration were elaborate and full of all sorts of foods.
• Polk--Plain eating was the name of the game for James K.  Ham and corn pone (a sort of skillet cornbread) were staples for him.  When he really wanted to get crazy, he went with a tomato omelet.
• Taylor--Zach was said to have been partial to the spicy and complex tastes of Creole cooking.  But he also made it known that plain food was fine, too.  As long as it was prepared well.
• Fillmore--Millard made culinary presidential history by installing the first iron cookstove in the White House (previous to this, cooking was done in a colonial era "walk-in" fireplace).  But Fillmore wasn't much of a foodie.  He preferred plain farm food--meat/potatoes/veg. 

More tomorrow--Franklin through Woodrow.

Fatty Flowers

So apparently, a new craze for Valentine's Day is bacon roses.  Yes, you heard me. 

Photo courtesy of bacontoday.com.

Hey, why not?  We have bacon donuts, bacon ice cream, chocolate-covered bacon, etc.  Why not a nice bouquet of smoked pork?  Mmm...smells sweet.

OK, while it is a little over the top and time consuming to make, it would be a pretty funny gift for the right person.  You can learn how to make them (there's even a video!) by reading this article from pennlive.com. 

Other than bacon, what are some of your favorite Valentine's Day foods?  Let me know! 

Rising Food Prices

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post talking about tips on how to save money while shopping for food.  (Click here if you missed it.)  According to experts, it's time to brush up on your money-saving ideas because food prices will probably continue to rise throughout 2012.

One of the biggest reasons for this increase in food prices is the weather.  The Weather Channel website has a feature on 5 foods that are impacted by weather the most as we begin this year.  You can click here to see the whole thing, which includes a couple videos, but here are the highlights.

Frozen Oranges courtesy of AP/Chris O'Meara.

• Beef--The terrible drought in Texas is showing signs of improving, but it's still very dry there and will be for a while.  The damage has been done, though, to the beef industry.  The dry weather has diminished the ability of farmers to feed their cattle well, so many of them have had to sell off large parts of their livestock creating a shortage of beef--and an increase in the price of beef that is available.
• Orange Juice--It's been a mild winter, but when it did get cold in places like Florida, Texas and California, it really did a number on the orange crop.  On top of that, other orange-growing countries (Brazil and Mexico, for example) have been very dry, also hurting the crop.  Expect higher OJ prices throughout the year.
• Milk--As it has done with the beef industry, the Texas drought has caused big problems in the milk industry.  Not only are the herds thinning, but the dryness has provided poor quality food for the cows, which leads to less milk production.  Luckily, much of the milk we buy around here is more or less locally produced.  Other parts of the country, however, aren't so lucky and will see milk prices rise.
• Peanuts & Pecans--Extremely dry conditions in the Southeast and California have given peanut farmers their worst crop in 30 years.  This could lead to as much as a 30% increase in the price of peanut butter.  Don't think that's that big a deal?  In the US, we spend $800 million on PB each year.  A 30% increase would mean us spending over $1 billion just on PB.  That's a lot of nuts.  Pecans are a little different.  80% of the world's pecans come from the US and although supply is down because of dry weather, demand in places like Asia is not.  This leads to an increase in pecan prices.  (Be sure to watch the Weather Channel's short video on this subject and tell me if you think that the desalination idea makes sense to you.  It sure does to me!)
• Sugar--The world's biggest sugar cane producer, Brazil, has been extremely dry and the crops have been hit hard.  Sugar prices will continue to rise and, although you may not see it too much when buying a bag of sugar, you probably will notice it in the price of sugary items like cookies and candy.

Just more reason to buy locally produced foods.  And to make your own cookies.

Community Garden to Help the Hungry

You may remember that I headed up my church's charity music festival, Joyful Noise, this past summer.  It benefited the Quakertown Food Pantry--one of loads of similar organizations in our area that help thousands of families acquire the most basic of needs--food. 

As you travel throughout Bucks County and other areas near here, you can't be struck by the bounty of incredible food that's available to us from wonderful local farms, restaurants and specialty stores.  It makes you wonder how there could be any hungry families around here.  But there are.  Thousands of our neighbors' children go to bed hungry, not knowing where their next meal is coming from.  The numbers can be astounding.  Read this article that I wrote last spring for more statistics that will blow you away.   

There are some positive signs, though.  One of these signs is the formation of a community garden on the grounds of Delaware Valley College in Doylestown.  According to an article in last Sunday's Intelligencer, an acre of land at the school will be used to grow food--under the supervision of students and faculty--that will be donated to the Bucks County Opportunity Council, which will then distribute the food to various agencies and food pantries around the county. 

This is huge for people who use such organizations.  Very often, fresh fruits and vegetables are the foods that get sacrificed by families in need--even though they're the most important for a healthy diet.  The DelVal program will help to spread these healthy foods to families that need such foods badly. 

Tackling hunger is a huge task, but it can be done.  The DelVal community garden may be a small step, but it's one in the right direction.  A lot of small steps can cover a lot of ground. 

It reminds me of favorite quote by Chinese writer and inventor, Lin Yutang who said, "Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence."  Let's hope that the efforts at DelVal lead to a long road ahead.

The Big 0-6

I just want to take a minute to wish Jake a Happy 6th Birthday.  When he was born, I wondered if I could make it through 6 days, never mind 6 years.  But he's made it very easy. 

Since this is a mostly food blog, I thought I'd post some pics from the past year of him enjoying all sorts of food.  And he often is enjoying some sort of food.  I guess he's a growing boy!

He requested homemade popcorn shrimp for last year's bday dinner.

Chewing on one his favorites--fennel.

Enjoying some Owowcow ice cream.

Picking strawberries this summer.

Eating his first whole lobster in Maine.

More ice cream, this time with Mom at Mount Desert Island Ice Cream
in Bar Harbor.

Mmmm...Great burgers at Johnny Rockets in Freeport, ME.

Most recently, enjoying another favorite--cabbage.

Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

We all know that eating locally is great--especially in our area with all the great farms and farm markets around.  It gives us fresher, more nutritious, more delicious produce than we could ever find in a supermarket.

But we also know that in the dead of winter (yes, this is winter despite the spring-like weather), it's hard to eat locally grown produce.  No tomatoes or cucumbers around here these days.  So if we can't necessarily eat locally, we can eat seasonally.  And this time of year, that often means root vegetables.

Supermarket tomatoes, for example, grown in California or Mexico or wherever, taste lousy because tomatoes just don't ship well.  But root veggies, whether they're grown locally or not, will not lose their freshness for a long time.

Carrots, parsnips, beets, celeriac and other root veggies may not have gained popularity until recently (and for some, haven't gotten that far yet).  But don't dismiss them--especially roasted where they get browned and so sweet. 

The cool thing about them, as NY Times food columnist, Mark Bittman, writes, is that root veggies can be used virtually interchangeably.  You may have to adjust cooking times, but you can use parsnips in a recipe that calls for carrots or turnips in place of potatoes, etc.  Check out Bittman's article about root veggies and be sure to click the link that takes you his recipes.