A fun and informative look at presidential dining and entertaining throughout American history.

I will likely never tire of learning more about the daily life both public and private of the occupants of the White House, and food always makes for a good jumping off point.

The author does a lovely job of assigning cultural significance to the culinary exploits of our presidents and First Ladies rather than just giving us a list of trivia and factoids about what they ate.

My one gripe is that I wish the book hadn’t devoted so much of its real estate to very recent presidents, whose dining habits are similar to ours and don’t tell us much. The author is of course at the mercy of how much information is available, and certainly there would be more about more recent occupiers of the Oval Office, but it would have been more interesting to have a few little bits of data about earlier presidents who were skipped than pages and pages about presidents from our lifetime eating fast food.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I skimmed much of this title, but really enjoyed the stories I did read.

I have been working on upgrading my non-fiction section, bringing it up to date with newer titles. In the process, we discovered that the cooking section, especially cookbooks, is enjoying a newfound popularity with young adults. This is the perfect title to add to the section - a little bit of history and a few recipes. I have already added it to our next order and cannot wait to begin recommending it to students!

I really truly enjoyed this book. Reading about what the presidents served to guests in certain situations was absolutely fascinating. Especially seeing which presidents were more foodies than the others. I found so much of this interesting and captivating. Some of the things mentioned, I actually wouldn’t mind trying. This is great for people who are history buffs or into food. I really really enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Alex Prud'homme, subtitled Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House, is full of super interesting tidbits. Prud'homme is a journalist and prolific author; he shares details from Washington's false teeth (as a result a favorite dish was grilled striped bass, one of the ten recipes included in an appendix) to the Obamas' kitchen garden and Trump's refusal to hold a state dinner for Ukraine's Zelenskyy without some quid pro quo. Each era ties food to the times which is surprisingly informative - an example in DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT is LBJ's reliance on BBQ and Pedernales River Chili to entertain as well as describing the discrimination his African American cook faced when driving between Washington, DC and the Texas White House; it is implied that experience strengthened LBJ's resolve in getting civil rights legislation passed. Prud'homme notes that a "food policy" has existed in some form at least since Lincoln (!) established the Department of Agriculture in 1862 and also describes the lavish, French-based dinners hosted by the Kennedys one hundred years later. This is a text with which readers can dabble, always finding a unique anecdote related in a generally chronological format. As Prud'homme says, "I was intrigued by the notion of presidential hunger – for food, of course, but also for the other trappings of office...." Approximately a fourth of the book is devoted to recipes, acknowledgements, and extensive notes. 4.5 stars

This book is very detailed with the combination of cuisine and history of 26 United States presidents from George Washington to Joe Biden. You get behind the scene details of the food and beverages from each era that was popular then.
The author goes into in-depth discussions with a massive amount of research to write this book. I really enjoyed it and recommend it but at times it did drag just a little.

This book is a wonderful mixture of US History and stories about food. The author is a great-nephew of Julia Child, a famous chef who during the WWII worked for the OSS, the predecessor of CIA, so it is only fitting that this book combines history, politics and food writing. The book talks about 26 presidents, their food habits and quirks, and shows how "dinner diplomacy" often served the country as the most effective negotiation tool. The book includes many interesting facts, some of them not well known by most of the readers. Another interesting angle in the book is a look at the First Ladies' efforts to improve the nation's nutrition and their roles in supporting their husbands. Despite its large size (500 pages!) the book is a fast read thanks to its entertaining content and delivery. Who would not want to test their knowledge of American history reading pages and pages of presidential trivia like who among the presidents was the first "edible educator" or the most adventurous eater, or who was compared to an "apothecary’s clerk"? Readers also can try their hand at cooking, using the recipes that Alex Prud'homme offers at the end of the book. Great read for history buffs and foodies alike.

A delicious idea for a book, Prud’homme tucks into the subject matter with gusto. The book acknowledges the role of slavery in the Presidential kitchen. It traces how food became a significant component of politics. Remember Arugula Gate? The early sections are understandably slim and sometimes unnecessarily compensate by digressing into adjacent material. A last section, covering a round-table discussion with experts about the topic, also feels tacked on. Nevertheless, from the vichyssoise that President Kennedy loved to the cottage cheese that President Nixon savored, there’s lots of fun behind-the-scenes peeks at what each President has brought to the table.

A fascinating look into the history of dining at the White House: lots of interesting information that will entice readers of non-fiction and history alike...highly recommended for book clubs and their public discourse after the fact.