PART I The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Setting the Table
The First Kitchen
The First Host
America’s Founding Epicure
To Jemmy’s Health, and Dolley’s Remorseless Equanimity
Corn, Gingerbread, and Thanksgiving
The Drunken Tanner, the Military Genius, and the First State Dinner
Feast and Famine
8. From Wilson to Coolidge and Hoover
Heartburn, Hard Cheese, and a Hail of Rotten Tomatoes
The Gourmet’s Lament
Bourbon, Berlin, and the Comforts of Fried Chicken
The President Who Cooked
Camelot and Clam Chowder
How Barbecue Led to Diplomacy and Chili Led to Civil Rights
14. Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford
The Unlikeliest Gastro-diplomat and the Instant President
In Search of Grits and Peace
Jelly Beans, Weight Loss, and Glasnost
The Yin and Yang of Broccoli
PART III The Twenty-first Century
Which American Cooking Is Most American?
Torn Between Renunciation and Appetite
T-Ball, Freedom Fries, and a Changing of the Guard
The President with the Global Palate
The Food Fighter
We Finish as a Family
Eating Together