Here in the US, we have a national holiday to celebrate the birthday of our founding father, George Washington. Washington's actual birthday is February 22, but the holiday was officially moved to the third Monday of February in 1971. Abraham Lincoln was also born in February, so the holiday is known colloquially as "Presidents' Day."

So here is some fun Presidential Food Trivia and a couple of fun presidential food facts. Enjoy!


Presidential Food Trivia
1. This president reportedly cut down his father's cherry tree.
A. Nixon
B. Taft
C. Washington
D. Monroe

2. This president was a peanut farmer.
A. Tyler
B. Carter
C. Coolidge
D. Jefferson

3. In order to quit smoking, which president (whose ancestors came from an Irish village known as "the place of the small potatoes") ate gumdrops to kick the habit?
A. Reagan
B. FDR
C. Eisenhower
D. Polk

4. Which former Kentucky farmer and Louisiana plantation owner may have died from food poisoning?
A. W. H Harrison
B. Garfield
C. Taylor
D. Madison

5. This president was famous for his elaborate dining room and fancy dinner parties.
A. Clinton
B. Jackson
C. Kennedy
D. Arthur

6. This president grew up in Europe eating Russian and Dutch food regularly.
A. J. Adams
B. Jefferson
C. McKinley
D. JQ Adams

7. A creative battlefield cook, this president was quoted as saying, "an army fights on a full stomach."
A. Grant
B. Garfield
C. Eisenhower
D. Hayes

8. This president's personally selected French chef regularly prepared 21 course state dinners.
A. Arthur
B. Washington
C. Jackson
D. Harding

9. During whose presidency did Commodore Perry's gifts to Japan include a barrel of Irish potatoes?
A. Bush
B. Polk
C. Wilson
D. Truman

10. This president, who was called a "doughface" by his detractors, owned an estate called Wheatland.
A. Cleveland
B. Pierce
C. Buchanan
D. Fillmore

11. Which president was a cabbage and potato farmer?
A. Van Buren
B. Carter
C. J Adams
D. TR

12. His White House cook over-boiled everything and yet this president never fired her.
A. FDR
B. TR
C. Lincoln
D. LBJ

13. As a soldier in the Civil War this president delivered food to the troops through heavy enemy fire.
A. Buchanan
B. Hoover
C. McKinley
D. Cleveland

14. This president said, "The man who reads everything is like the man who eats everything: he can digest nothing."
A. Clinton
B. Harding
C. Jefferson
D. Wilson

15. Who caught pneumonia while out at a D.C market buying vegetables?
A. Taylor
B. Harrison
C. Cleveland
D. W Harrison

16. Which president had a great-grandpa who escaped from pirates taking over his fishing boat, and a father who was a farming failure?
A. Fillmore
B. Johnson
C. Bush
D. Arthur

17. Who once christened some ground with watermelon juice?
A. Reagan
B. Washington
C. Tyler
D. Lincoln


The answers can be found HERE.

From the Food Museum.


Presidential Fun Food Facts
Ronald Reagan and jelly beans: Reagan started eating jelly beans when he gave up smoking in the early 1960's. On his first day as governor of California, candymaker Henry Rowland gave Reagan a big jar of jelly beans, which Reagan put on the Cabinet Room table. That was the beginning of a long tradition of passing out jelly beans during Cabinet meetings. "We can hardly start a meeting or make a decision without passing around the jar of jelly beans," he told Rowland. Reagan also once said that, "You can tell a lot about a fella's character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful." Sometime later he remarked, "Some political figures have endured in history as lions or conquerors or something equally impressive. It's a little frightening to think California history might record us as jelly beans." When Reagan was elected President in 1980, Henry Rowland told reporters, "There will be jelly beans in the White House, that's all I can say." True to form, Reagan kept a crystal jar full of his favorite jelly beans (Jelly Belly's) for Cabinet meetings and encouraged his department chiefs to eat them when they needed energy. Guests at Reagan's 1980 inaugural parties consumed 40 million jelly beans --- almost equalling the number of votes he received in the election.

George Bush and broccoli: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.”



Favorite Presidential Foods
1. Growing up in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln had never had a chance to indulge in this delicacy. Once he tasted them they were served often at his table. Were they crayfish, oysters, escargots, or clams?

2. Dwight Eisenhower loved to cook when he had the time. He often cooked this dish for company. Was the dish Corned beef hash, Beef stew, Chicken and dumplings, or Meatloaf?

3. Being from Texas the Lyndon Johnson's introduced good Texas cooking to the White House. Was LBJ's favorite Texas T-bone, Chili, BBQ, or Chicken fried steak?

4. Jimmy Carter loved this soup made from products from his own farm. Can you name the product?

5. Ronald Reagan often gave out his favorite candies at cabinet meetings. Were they Gummy Bears, M and M's, Jelly beans or Skittles?

6. After a hard day of taping, Richard Nixon often ordered this unusual snack. Was it Potato chips and chocolate sauce, Peanut butter and pickles, Cottage cheese and ketchup, or Crackers and sliced onions?

7. Thomas Jefferson was the first person in North America to grow a tomato. True or False?

8. George Washington may have chopped down a cherry tree, but his wife Martha made his favorite dish. Was it Pot Roast, Fried Chicken, Duck l'orange, or Crab Soup?

9. Dolley Madison may have been known for making ice cream, but James Madison's favorite snack was his wife's... Bread pudding? Gingerbread? Coconut cake? or Apple pie?

10. Generally considered the worst cook in the White House, Eleanor Roosevelt once offered the King of England hot dogs. True or False?


1. The correct answer is oysters. Abe usually paid little attention to his food, but when oysters were served he relished his dinner. He liked them served any way.

2. The correct answer ias Beef stew. Ike sometimes cooked enough of this to serve up to 50 people at a time. Must have been a big pot!

3. The correct answer is Chili.

4. The correct answer is peanuts.

5. Reagan loved jelly beans, but his favorite snack was popcorn, which he munched while watching his own movies.

6. The correct answer is Cottage cheese and ketchup.

7. True. Up to that time most people considered them poisonous. It took Jefferson considerable persuasion to introduce them to America.

8. Crab soup. Of course it was! He is from the Chesapeake area after all.

9. Gingerbread.

10. True. It is unknown if the King consumed them or not.