I Tried U.S. Presidents’ Favorite Breakfasts and Here’s the Winner
If you’re anything like me, you probably have a usual order at your local breakfast spot. Some folks opt for scrambled eggs and bacon, while others go for pancakes drenched in butter and maple syrup. (I personally prefer a sesame bagel with lox and cream cheese.) U.S. presidents through history were no different: While some POTUSes enjoyed a traditional breakfast of eggs, bacon, and coffee, others preferred morning meals that ranged from decadent to bizarre.
This gave us an idea: Choose seven of the more unusual presidential breakfasts and spend a week eating like the commander in chief. So that’s exactly what I did, and here’s what I learned.
George Washington: Hoecakes and Hot Tea
The first breakfast I made was, appropriately, a favorite of the very first U.S. president, George Washington. According to his Mount Vernon estate, “Hoecakes were among George Washington’s favorite foods. He invariably ate them at breakfast… along with hot tea.” Hoecakes are a pancakelike dish made of cornmeal, and were originally standard fare among Native Americans before they became popular with colonial settlers.
The dish was a staple of the Washington household, whose patriarch preferred hoecakes “swimming in butter and honey” — possibly because it made them softer and easier to chew, which would make sense given the president’s well-documented dental issues.
I went ahead and whipped up a plate of hoecakes based on a recipe by culinary historian Nancy Carter Crump in the book Dining With the Washingtons. While not as fluffy or airy as a typical pancake, the hoecakes were quite delicious. They boasted a rich corn flavor and pleasant crumbly texture, and drenching them with butter and honey made them all the more decadent.
As for the tea, I went with green tea — one of the many varieties preferred by the Washington family. George Washington reportedly drank three cups with breakfast, which I found to be a bit too much liquid for one sitting. But in terms of flavor, the tea acted as a nice, subtle compliment to the denser hoecakes.
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Abraham Lincoln: One Egg and Toast
Given Abraham Lincoln’s profound legacy and brilliant mind, I was surprised by the simplicity of his favorite breakfast. In fact, Honest Abe would sometimes skip meals altogether. According to President Lincoln’s Cottage — a historical museum in Washington, D.C. — the stress of the Civil War had a negative impact on the president’s eating habits. Lincoln’s private secretary John Hay once noted, “The pleasures of the table had few attractions for [Lincoln],” who “ate less than anyone I know.” When the 16th president did eat breakfast, it was usually nothing more than a single egg, one piece of toast, and a meager cup of coffee.
While it may be simple and somewhat bland, there’s nothing wrong with eggs, toast, and coffee in my book. There was no exact recipe for how Lincoln liked his meal prepared, so I went with a sunny-side up egg, sourdough toast (a popular type of bread in the mid-19th century), and black coffee, as there is no historical record of Lincoln preferring sugar or cream.
I certainly enjoyed what I’d consider to be a light breakfast, even if it didn’t fill me up. At the same time, though, I was amazed that Lincoln had enough energy to lead the country through one of its most tumultuous periods while eating bare meals such as this. I would definitely order Lincoln’s preferred breakfast at my local diner, but if I ever became president, I’d probably need a bit more fuel to start the day.
Theodore Roosevelt: Fat Rascals
Not only did Teddy Roosevelt “speak softly and carry a big stick,” but he also woke up each morning with a hearty appetite. In researching his favorite dishes, I came upon a breakfast treat that I’d never heard of before: the fat rascal. According to What Was Cooking in Edith Roosevelt’s White House? by Tanya Larkin, one of the first lady’s “most treasured recipes” was for fat rascals, which are essentially flaky biscuits filled with dried currants. The Roosevelts enjoyed these biscuits for breakfast served alongside hard-boiled eggs and coffee.
That said, Teddy wasn’t your typical coffee drinker. As a child, he was given cups of coffee to ease his asthma, and developed an early love for the beverage. Roosevelt was said to drink a gallon of coffee per day, and was known to put as many as seven sugar lumps into each cup. One of his sons even described Teddy’s huge coffee cup as “more in nature of a bathtub.”
All told, I have mixed feelings about this breakfast. On one hand, the food was delicious. The fat rascals were quick to prepare and turned out flaky and perfectly buttery without being overly sweet, and the dried currants were a delightful touch. The hard-boiled eggs were a nice complement as well, providing a little bit of savory protein that I personally feel is essential in every breakfast.
The coffee, however, was far too sweet, and I’m amazed that Teddy consumed so much coffee and sugar each day. I had two cups of joe in the morning in an attempt to keep pace with the gallon a day that Teddy drank, and even that felt like enough sugar to last me a lifetime. However, maybe this explains why Roosevelt had a reputation for being so energetic — he may have had a constant sugar rush and caffeine buzz going.
William Howard Taft: 12-Ounce Steak
William Howard Taft is known for being one of the physically largest U.S. presidents, and he had an appetite to match. According to former White House head housekeeper Elizabeth Jaffray, Taft came down for his morning meal a little before 8:30 a.m., and “as a rule he would eat two oranges, a 12-ounce beefsteak, several pieces of toast and butter, and a vast quantity of coffee, with cream and sugar.” However, there was one breakfast standard you’d never find him eating: According to Jaffray, “President Taft liked every sort of food with the single exception of eggs.”
Sitting down for Taft’s daily breakfast, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was about to participate in some sort of food challenge. It was a lot of food. As I took a few bites, I realized that my stomach wasn’t ready for such an early-morning culinary marathon, but I kept going. I scarfed down the steak, buttered toast, oranges, and sugary coffee, all while wondering how Taft was able to consume this breakfast daily. After I finished the meal, all I wanted to do was go back to bed — I can’t imagine how the president went to work in the Oval Office afterward.
Woodrow Wilson: Grape Juice With Raw Eggs
America’s 28th president endured health issues while in office, struggling with his appetite and appearing quite frail at times. According to Dinner With the President by journalist Alex Prud’homme, one doctor predicted that Woodrow Wilson wouldn’t last through his first term. In response, Wilson’s personal aide Cary Grayson, a former Navy doctor, stepped up in an effort to improve the president’s health and diet. This included one odd suggestion in particular: Grayson insisted Wilson drink “a glass of grape or orange juice with two raw eggs every morning, for strength.”
The president abided, though he compared the daily concoction to drinking “an unborn thing.” Given that review, it may not be entirely fair to call this drink Wilson’s “favorite” breakfast. But he still downed it each day, and so I had the chance to try it myself… Yippee.
During the preparation process, I chose to go with grape juice over orange juice. After I mixed in the raw eggs, it developed a lighter, purplish color that looked similar to a tasty fruit smoothie. But it was impossible to ignore the raw bits of egg that floated to the top and sat there almost mocking me. I really wasn’t excited to take a sip of this unusual beverage — but I did, and after a few swigs, I couldn’t help but agree with Wilson’s description.
While the flavor was surprisingly OK — it tasted more like grape juice than anything else — I was thrown off by the unsettling globs of albumin in each sip. My mind was far too aware of the unholy concoction I was drinking, and I couldn’t trick myself into thinking it was something more appetizing. In the end, I can safely say that I won’t be trying this breakfast again anytime soon.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Jelly Doughnuts and Dark Roast
FDR had simple culinary tastes that were in line with those of the average American. According to former White House housekeeper Henrietta Nesbitt, some of his favorite meals included grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, and fruitcake. When it came to breakfast, he preferred a combination of jelly doughnuts and dark roast coffee above all else. Roosevelt’s favorite type of doughnut was the German-style Berliner Pfannkuchen, which was fried, filled with jelly, and topped with powdered sugar. The doughnuts were produced in large batches by Nesbitt, and Roosevelt would take them up to his private residence to enjoy each morning.
Much like his cousin Teddy, FDR was also quite particular about his coffee. He strongly preferred a French dark roast, and to make sure that it tasted right, he often prepared the coffee himself. According to The Presidents’ Cookbook by Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks, “A coffee maker was placed on the president’s breakfast tray so that he could regulate the brewing to his satisfaction.”
My baking skills are somewhat lacking, so instead of trying to make jelly doughnuts myself, I went to a trusted bakery down the block and picked up a fresh one. I did, however, buy some French dark roast coffee beans and brew them myself, just like FDR would have done.
This combination of doughnuts and coffee was a truly delicious way to start the day, and one that feels unequivocally American — ironic given it’s a German doughnut and French coffee. While the dark roast beans were a little more bitter than I usually like my coffee to be, they served as a nice complement to the sweetness of the doughnut.
Harry S. Truman: A Shot of Bourbon
Last but not least, we jump ahead to the Truman administration. As noted in David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Truman, the 33rd president kept a diary of his morning routine. In an entry from his seventh year in office, he wrote, “I eat no bread but one piece of toast at breakfast, no butter, no sugar, no sweets. Usually have fruit, one egg, a strip of bacon, and half a glass of skimmed milk for breakfast.”
What made Truman’s breakfast unique was the one special ingredient he regularly had in addition: a shot of bourbon. Truman enjoyed an ounce of Old Granddad or Wild Turkey each morning, which he consumed after a 2-mile walk to begin the day “to get the engine going.”
I’m not sure what was a bigger shock to my system — the early-morning shot of liquor or the lengthy walk. The booze made me a bit tipsy right off the bat, but that feeling soon faded, especially as the tasty food began to hit my stomach.
As for the meal, I consulted a White House breakfast menu from December 24, 1951, that listed grapefruit and a poached egg, so that’s what I went with. It was a pretty tasty and traditional breakfast, whiskey notwithstanding. All told, I’d definitely have Truman’s brekkie again, though I would maybe save the shot for after a long day of work.
While I enjoyed elements from all these breakfasts to some degree — Wilson’s juice and raw egg mix excluded — I’d say my favorite was the fat rascals that Teddy Roosevelt was so fond of. These flaky biscuits were downright delicious, and I’m sure I’ll make them again at my own leisure. As I mentioned, I’d prefer less sugar in my coffee than Roosevelt went for, but otherwise I was a big fan of Teddy’s favorite morning meal.
