- 2 weeks ago
Every US president had a favorite food, and the results are as weird, funny, and revealing as history itself. From George Washington’s ho cakes and John Adams’ hard cider to Thomas Jefferson’s macaroni obsession, this fast-paced history rundown turns presidential meals into a tour of America’s changing tastes.
Along the way, you’ll hear about Dolly Madison’s ice cream parties, Andrew Jackson’s leather britches, Lincoln’s bacon, Teddy Roosevelt’s steak, Taft’s giant breakfasts, Reagan’s jelly beans, and Biden’s love of ice cream. The video mixes food history, White House trivia, and quirky presidential facts into one entertaining narration packed with memorable details.
Perfect for viewers who enjoy American history, presidential trivia, food history, and documentary-style commentary with a light, comedic tone. It also works well as background listening for anyone searching for history videos, fun facts, or a quick deep dive into the favorite foods of US presidents. Presidential food history, White House facts, historical commentary, and trivia storytelling all come together in this fast, searchable roundup.
Along the way, you’ll hear about Dolly Madison’s ice cream parties, Andrew Jackson’s leather britches, Lincoln’s bacon, Teddy Roosevelt’s steak, Taft’s giant breakfasts, Reagan’s jelly beans, and Biden’s love of ice cream. The video mixes food history, White House trivia, and quirky presidential facts into one entertaining narration packed with memorable details.
Perfect for viewers who enjoy American history, presidential trivia, food history, and documentary-style commentary with a light, comedic tone. It also works well as background listening for anyone searching for history videos, fun facts, or a quick deep dive into the favorite foods of US presidents. Presidential food history, White House facts, historical commentary, and trivia storytelling all come together in this fast, searchable roundup.
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00:00From slurping squirrel soup, to eating marshmallow-covered sweet potatoes, to getting three and a half tons of jelly beans
00:07delivered to the White House.
00:09This is every U.S. president's favorite food.
00:12And some of these are so crazy, you'll be wondering how they even survived.
00:16Like George Washington, who started his mornings one way and one way only, eating hoe cakes.
00:23No, no, no, come on, guys, it's not a bad word.
00:26Hoe cakes were just cornmeal pancakes.
00:27At Mount Vernon, his step-granddaughter said he downed three little cakes every morning, each one swimming in butter and
00:35honey.
00:36But they weren't just sweet, they were practical.
00:39Because Washington's teeth were in such terrible shape, he soaked the pancakes until they were soft enough to slip down
00:45without a fight.
00:46But our next president kept things a little more simple, because John Adams was a cider guy.
00:52Like most New Englanders at the time, Adams drank a tankard of hard cider with breakfast every day.
00:57But he didn't stop there, because Adams' favorite dessert was apple pan dowdy, a baked apple pudding rich with molasses
01:05and spice.
01:06So between the cider in the morning and apple pudding at night, Adams wasn't just America's second president.
01:12He was America's first full-time apple influencer.
01:15But while Adams was powered by apples, this next guy was powered by mac and cheese.
01:21Because while working as America's minister in France, Thomas Jefferson fell in love with macaroni and parmesan cheese.
01:28And he brought the obsession home with him, along with an actual pasta machine.
01:33In 1802, Jefferson shocked White House guests when he served up a baked macaroni pie.
01:39Basically, the OG mac and cheese gratin.
01:42Mines were blown.
01:44And Jefferson also scribbled down detailed recipes for a creamy macaroni pudding.
01:48The man was basically America's first food blogger.
01:52Except with a quill.
01:53Meanwhile, James Madison kept things pretty private.
01:56So we don't really know his favorite food.
01:59But we do know that his wife, Dolly, was responsible for turning ice cream into a national sensation.
02:05Because she served it at White House parties in flavors like strawberry, apricot, and oyster.
02:12Delicious.
02:13Well, actually, the oyster flavor turned out to be a myth.
02:17But the Madisons even had an ice house built just to keep the supply flowing.
02:21It even got to the point where rivals joke that Madison cared more about Dolly's desserts than the nation's business.
02:28And honestly, if you had endless ice cream in the 1810s, you might too.
02:33On the other hand, James Monroe's go-to comfort food was spoon bread.
02:38Think cornbread meets souffle.
02:40A soft custardy casserole you could scoop with, well, a spoon.
02:44Because at his Oak Hill plantation in Virginia, it showed up at the table all the time.
02:49Usually alongside fried chicken or ham.
02:52It was basically Monroe on a plate.
02:54Virginia corn with European finesse.
02:57It tastes pretty good.
02:58Will this make me president one day?
02:59But unlike Monroe, John Quincy Adams was happier with fresh fruit.
03:04Apples?
03:05Pears?
03:06Plums?
03:06If it grew on a tree, he was eating it.
03:09He even expanded the White House grounds with gardens and fruit trees.
03:13So while visitors showed up expecting a grand feast, surprise!
03:17They'd get a plate of fruit instead.
03:19But you know the saying, you are what you eat?
03:21Well, Andrew Jackson took that literally.
03:24Because his favorite dish had a name as tough as he was.
03:27Leather britches.
03:29Which were basically green beans simmered slowly with bacon.
03:33Salty, smoky, and chewy.
03:35Jackson's pure frontier fuel.
03:37And sure, he ate hickory nut soup and fried apple pies too.
03:41But nothing fit the man better than a plate of leather britches.
03:44Now, compare that with Martin Van Buren, who preferred seafood.
03:48More specifically, oysters.
03:51Raw, baked, stewed in soups, it didn't matter.
03:54If there were oysters on the table, he was happy.
03:57Because growing up in New York, oysters were everywhere and dirt cheap.
04:01So when he entered the White House, he often ignored pastries, cakes, and apples,
04:06and made a beeline for the oysters.
04:08He even joked that the success of a dinner could be measured by the mountain of shells left under the
04:13table.
04:14Uh, sir, my feet are starting to smell fishy.
04:17But while Van Buren ate oysters, William Henry Harrison slurped squirrel stew.
04:22A classic frontier staple.
04:24And yeah, taste exactly how it sounds.
04:27A little nutty.
04:28But during his 1840 campaign, Rowley's handed out free squirrel stew with cornbread and cider,
04:34feeding both bellies and votes.
04:37The message was clear.
04:38Harrison wasn't some polished aristocrat.
04:41He was the log cabin guy, eating the same stew as the frontiersman who backed him.
04:46What's going on?
04:47But next up, John Tyler had a soft spot for Indian pudding.
04:51A baked mix of cornmeal, molasses, and milk, spiced and slow-cooked until warm and comforting.
04:57Yum!
04:58That looks pretty good.
04:59And with 15 children, it was also practical.
05:02Because you can make a massive batch and keep everyone fed.
05:05Eat up, kids!
05:07On the other hand, James K. Polk was a cornbread man through and through.
05:12Raised in the South, Polk wasn't interested in elaborate banquets.
05:15Give him cornbread, polk cakes, or ash cakes baked right in the ashes, and he was satisfied.
05:21A simple man of simple taste.
05:23Kinda like Zachary Taylor, who had a die-hard love for kala, creole rice fritters from Louisiana.
05:30Because Taylor spent most of his military career around New Orleans, where he got addicted to the local street food.
05:36The fritters were fried up fresh by vendors in the French Quarter, usually eaten hot in the morning with a
05:42strong cup of coffee.
05:43And Taylor never forgot him, because he brought kala straight into the White House.
05:48But Millard Fillmore was the total opposite.
05:51Because he enjoyed soup.
05:53Especially mock turtle soup.
05:55Except it wasn't made with turtle at all, but with calf's head.
05:59Ew!
05:59It was designed to imitate the expensive green turtle soups popular in Victorian high society.
06:06Odd?
06:06Definitely.
06:07But back then, it was a delicacy.
06:09And Fillmore liked it so much, he even had the first stove installed in the White House kitchen to make
06:14soup prep easier.
06:15And hey, mock turtle soup, I can handle.
06:18But if I see mock eagle soup on the menu, that's when I'm flying straight into witness protection.
06:23Where, hopefully, I end up with Franklin Pierce, who hailed from New England and loved fried clams.
06:29Something I could seriously get behind.
06:32Crispy, golden, and straight from the seashore.
06:34Now, pair that with clam chowder, and Franklin Pierce was in heaven.
06:38But I wish I could say the same for this next president.
06:41Because James Buchanan, the only U.S. president who never married, had one true love.
06:47Cabbage.
06:49Sauerkraut, coleslaw, buttered cabbage, you name it, Buchanan piled it on his plate.
06:54And personally, not my thing.
06:56Which is why I'd much rather move on to the next guy.
07:00Abraham Lincoln.
07:01A man who loved his bacon.
07:03From his frontier childhood, to riding the legal circuit, to long nights in the White House,
07:08bacon was always close by.
07:10Even during the Civil War, Lincoln joined soldiers around the campfire, cheering bacon and hardtack.
07:16And that moment stuck.
07:18Because nothing said man of the people quite like a president eating rations shoulder to shoulder with his troops.
07:24Ah, the power of bacon.
07:27Something I bet Andrew Johnson could have used.
07:29Because as he stumbled through his presidency, Johnson leaned on Hoppin' John.
07:34Black-eyed peas and rice simmered with pork.
07:36It was a southern staple.
07:38Eaten on New Year's for luck and prosperity.
07:41Two things Johnson was always short on.
07:43However, after surviving impeachment by just one vote, he must have had a big help and a Hoppin' John on
07:49his plate.
07:50Give me some of that.
07:51But unlike Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant didn't need food for good luck.
07:55He needed it for fuel.
07:57Because Grant had a sweet spot for rice pudding.
08:00After years of war, his stomach was left in rough shape from a poor army diet, alcohol and stress.
08:07So instead of opting for rich, fancy food, Grant kept it simple.
08:12Even while guests dined on elaborate French cuisine, Grant would head straight for the pudding bowl made by his wife
08:18Julia.
08:19Would you look at that?
08:20The hero of Appomattox turning down French delicacies for homemade dessert.
08:24It just doesn't get more Grant than that.
08:27Kind of like Rutherford B. Hayes, who also turned down fine dining, but instead for cornmeal pancakes.
08:34Because Sunday mornings at the Hayes household usually started with a stack of flapjacks dripping with molasses.
08:41Even during the Civil War, Hayes wrote home about how much he missed them.
08:44And when he became president, he didn't swap them out for French crepes to impress visiting dignitaries.
08:50He served cornmeal pancakes.
08:52Because to Hayes, that was the true taste of America's frontier.
08:56But speaking of frontiers, James Garfield grew up on the Ohio frontier.
09:01And his favorite food was squirrel soup.
09:04Just like William Henry Harrison.
09:06Except squirrel soup was a staple of Garfield's home.
09:09Hearty and practical.
09:10Even after he became president, friends remembered him enjoying it back at his Ohio farm.
09:16Where his wife Lucretia kept the recipe alive.
09:19But if you think squirrel soup is crazy, just wait until you hear about this next president.
09:24Because Chester A. Arthur liked his food like his facial hair.
09:28Literally.
09:30Arthur was famous for those massive mutton chop sideburns.
09:33And his favorite dish, mutton chops.
09:35Although he was known for throwing lavish dinners, when it came down to it, Arthur always zeroed in on a
09:42plate of chops.
09:43Back in New York, waiters didn't even bother asking.
09:46Arthur's usual meant mutton chops with baked potatoes.
09:50The man had the best mutton chops in town.
09:53On his face.
09:53And on his plate.
09:55Bud Grover Cleveland preferred to keep his mustache separate from his favorite food, which was pickled herring.
10:01Salty, vinegary, and very much a working man snack.
10:05Cause at gatherings, Cleveland paired it with Swiss cheese and a cold beer.
10:09Happily ignoring the fancy stuff on the menu.
10:12His wife Frances admitted he was at his happiest, not at banquets, but in the kitchen with his herring and
10:17cheese.
10:18And next up, we got Benjamin Harrison, who loved corn.
10:22On the cob, baked into pudding, fried up as fritters.
10:25If it came from the stock, he was eating it.
10:28Because growing up in Indiana, corn was everywhere.
10:31And he kept it rolling in the White House by serving corn chowder at state dinners.
10:36For him, corn wasn't just food.
10:38It was home, heritage, and a little bit of Hoosier pride on a plate.
10:43Meanwhile, William McKinley's go-to dish was hot lobster salad.
10:47A baked casserole of lobster and creamy sauce.
10:51Yummy.
10:52He and his wife Ida loved it so much, they served it at their 25th wedding anniversary.
10:57And it quickly became a White House favorite.
11:00Restaurants picked up on it too, briefly offering lobster a la McKinley in his honor.
11:05Proof that his devotion to the dish wasn't just personal, it was presidential.
11:09On the contrary, Theodore Roosevelt was a steak man.
11:13Beef, venison, even bear.
11:16If it was meat, Teddy was eaten.
11:19French diplomats even grumbled that White House meals under Roosevelt were all steak and no elegance.
11:24But Teddy didn't care.
11:26He grilled exotic game that he hunted himself.
11:29And made rules about how it should be served.
11:32Like fried chicken needed gravy soaked in.
11:35And steak had to be thick, juicy, and cooked just right.
11:38Roosevelt wasn't just president.
11:40He was basically the head chef.
11:43Which might have thickened up this next president.
11:45Because William Howard Taft didn't just eat steak and potatoes, he devoured them.
11:51So much so that he ballooned to over 300 pounds during his presidency.
11:56Because Taft famously ate a 12-ounce steak every morning for breakfast during his presidency.
12:01And sometimes for lunch and dinner too.
12:03He'd even host president's breakfast, serving steak and eggs to senators as a way to win their support.
12:10But eventually Taft's health problems caught up with him.
12:13And the feast had to end.
12:15I'll just take those away, sir.
12:18Meanwhile, Woodrow Wilson had a much lighter palate.
12:21His go-to was chicken salad.
12:23With a sensitive stomach, he steered clear of spicy or heavy foods.
12:27And lunch was often just a small plate of chicken salad at his desk.
12:31He even joked that his favorite food was whatever requires the least chewing.
12:36Unlike Warren G. Harding, who stuffed himself with chicken pot pie.
12:40Because his wife Florence made it during his front porch campaign in Ohio, where supporters gather by the thousands.
12:47So although Harding was buried in scandals, at least he could rely on some good old chicken pot pie.
12:53But speaking of pies, Calvin Coolidge was an apple pie man.
12:58A specially Vermont-style pie made with a touch of salt pork.
13:02Because he often reminisced about how he never ate anything as good as his mother's pork apple pie.
13:08And he didn't save it for dessert either.
13:10Enjoying it for supper, breakfast, and any time he could get his hands on it.
13:15Meanwhile, Herbert Hoover's guilty pleasure was baked sweet potatoes topped with gooey marshmallows.
13:21Whoa!
13:23He had a well-known sweet tooth.
13:25And this dish became a Depression-era favorite.
13:28Cheap, filling, and dressed up with sugar to make it feel special.
13:32Who knew Hoover had a soft and mushy side to him?
13:35Kind of like Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
13:38Who loved the same food as most American kids.
13:40A grilled cheese sandwich.
13:42Despite hosting kings and queens at the White House, FDR's favorite food was melted cheese on toasted bread.
13:49Which he often paired with tomato soup.
13:51Because if you're popular enough to get elected president four times,
13:55I think you could get away with some grilled cheese without being judged.
13:58But all Harry Truman wanted was a well-done steak.
14:02No pink.
14:03Ever.
14:04He once said only coyotes eat raw meat.
14:07So his steaks were always cooked through.
14:10Usually with a baked potato and glass of milk on the side.
14:13Because for Truman, it wasn't about finesse.
14:15It was about meat, potatoes, and making sure nothing on the plate moved.
14:21It was just a joke, sir.
14:24Meanwhile, Dwight Eisenhower had a sweet tooth.
14:27And his favorite indulgence was Mamie's million-dollar fudge.
14:30Loaded with chocolate, marshmallow cream, and walnuts, his wife Mamie made huge batches at Christmas.
14:36And the recipe became so popular, it was printed in newspapers and even mailed out on White House cards.
14:43Becoming a 1950s sensation.
14:45So was a five-star general.
14:47He fancied himself some five-star fudge.
14:50But for John F. Kennedy, he was a Massachusetts boy through and through.
14:54With his favorite food being New England fish chowder.
14:57Filled with creamy broth, chunks of fish, potatoes, and milk.
15:01He often had it for lunch.
15:02And when a schoolgirl once wrote asking about his favorite meal, Kennedy actually mailed back the recipe.
15:08What a sweet gesture.
15:09But unlike JFK, Lyndon B. Johnson was all about Texas barbecue and chili.
15:16At his ranch in Stonewall, he'd host world leaders with smoked brisket and ribs.
15:20A style he proudly called barbecue diplomacy.
15:23And when it came to chili, LBJ liked it extra spicy.
15:27His wife, Lady Bird Johnson, published the family recipe and had the White House mail out recipe cards.
15:33Because for LBJ, barbecue and chili wasn't just a meal.
15:37It was a little Texas kick to keep him going.
15:40Hot, hot, it's too hot.
15:42I'd rather eat with Richard Nixon, who swore by a bowl of cottage cheese with ketchup.
15:47Yeah, ketchup.
15:49Whether it was breakfast on Air Force One, a quick lunch between Memos, or a midnight snack during Watergate.
15:55It was always there.
15:57Even on Nixon's last day in the White House, that's what he ate.
16:01Because after he resigned, Gerald Ford stepped in and chowed down on a Sunday-style pot roast, followed by butter
16:07pecan ice cream.
16:09As a Michigan man, where meat and potatoes meals were the centerpiece of family dinners, he carried that tradition straight
16:15into the White House.
16:16And combine that with his sweet tooth, and butter pecan ice cream was stocked regularly in the presidential freezer.
16:22But with Jimmy Carter, it somehow got even simpler.
16:25Because he enjoyed eating cheese grits with eggs nearly every single morning of his 100 years on this planet.
16:33Crazy.
16:33He even had a dog named Grits.
16:36The man had a full-on Grits obsession.
16:38Kind of like Ronald Reagan, who was famously obsessed with jelly beans.
16:44Specifically, jelly belly beans.
16:46Because he always had jars in cabinet meetings, on Air Force One, and even at press briefings.
16:52And for his 1981 inauguration, 3.5 tons of red, white, and blue beans were delivered.
16:59But the obsession didn't stop there.
17:01Because Reagan ordered over 300,000 jelly beans per month to be distributed all around the White House.
17:08This place is starting to look like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
17:12But unlike Reagan, George H.W. Bush changed it up and ate pork rinds with a shake of Tabasco.
17:18Pork rind sales even spiked up after he praised them publicly.
17:22But of course, he also made headlines for the opposite reason.
17:26Banishing broccoli from Air Force One, with the line,
17:30I am the President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.
17:34Okay, okay, someone get this man a bag of pork rinds ASAP.
17:38Meanwhile, Bill Clinton's go-to food was a cheeseburger.
17:41More specifically, a jalapeno cheeseburger with everything on it.
17:45Which made it pretty convenient for Secret Service to hit the drive-thru whenever Prez got hungry.
17:50Until Clinton got heart surgery, and he had to go vegan for a while.
17:54But the one thing he admitted he missed most was a proper, messy burger.
17:59But speaking of burgers, George W. Bush championed a White House invention.
18:04Cheeseburger pizza!
18:06Think margarita crust topped with seasoned beef, onions, pickles, and a ketchup mustard drizzle.
18:12My beak is salivating!
18:14It became the W special for movie nights, football Sundays, and Camp David hangouts.
18:19But unlike Bush, Obama ate clean in public.
18:23Until suddenly, he confessed his kryptonite was nachos.
18:27A heaping platter with cheese, guac, salsa, the works.
18:31Because March Madness watch parties in the White House theater always feature nachos nearby.
18:37But speaking of getting food nearby, Donald Trump's favorite food is fast food.
18:41Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, KFC Buckets, and plenty of Diet Coke.
18:46He once ordered 400 burgers from McDonald's to feed the 2019 NCAA football champions at the White House.
18:53That's a lot of meat!
18:55But why does Trump love fast food?
18:57Well, it's consistent, tasty, and became his fuel to return to the White House for a second time at 79
19:04years old.
19:05But speaking of older presidents, Joe Biden's favorite treat was ice cream, especially chocolate chip.
19:11He stopped at countless parlors for double-scoop waffle cones, and once stated,
19:16My name is Joe Biden, and I love ice cream.
19:19I eat more ice cream than three other people you'd like to be with all at once.
19:23Uh, hey, I guess this guy likes ice cream.
19:26But if chocolate chip ice cream sends me to bed happy, Watergate keeps me tossing and turning at night.
19:32Because this is every major presidential mistake that changed America forever.
19:36From driving natives from the South in death-filled marches,
19:40to watching the country crumble into civil war,
19:43to locking Japanese Americans behind barbed wire,
19:46U.S. presidents made some pretty insane mistakes.
19:49So click this video right here to find out how we barely survive them.
19:53Because snack time is over!
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