Dinner with the president: food, politics, and a history of breaking bread at the White House

Introduction: At the president's table

George Washington : the first kitchen

John Adams : the first host

Thomas Jefferson : America's founding epicure

James Madison : to Jemmy's health, and Dolley's remorseless equanimity

Abraham Lincoln : corn, gingerbread, and Thanksgiving

Ulysses S. Grant : the drunken tanner, the military genius, and the first state dinner

Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft : two bears

From Wilson to Coolidge and Hoover : heartburn, hard cheese, and a hail of rotten tomatoes

Franklin D. Roosevelt : the gourmet's lament

Harry S. Truman : bourbon, Berlin, and the comforts of fried chicken

Dwight D. Eisenhower : the president who cooked

John F. Kennedy : Camelot and clam chowder

Lyndon B. Johnson : how barbecue led to diplomacy and chili led to civil rights

Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford : the unlikeliest gastro-diplomat and the instant president

Jimmy Carter : in search of grits and peace

Ronald Reagan : jelly beans, weight-loss, and glasnost

George H. W. Bush : the yin and yang of broccoli

William J. Clinton : torn between renunciation and appetite

George W. Bush : tee ball, freedom fries, and changing of the guard

Barack Obama : the president with the global palate

Donald Trump : the food fighter

Joseph R. Biden : we finish as family

Conclusion: Eating together.