{"id":96435,"date":"2023-12-13T10:49:56","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T15:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=96435"},"modified":"2023-12-13T10:50:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T15:50:24","slug":"presidential-first-ladies-recipes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/presidential-first-ladies-recipes.html","title":{"rendered":"Presidential First Ladies\u2019 Recipes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to find favorite recipes from some recent First Ladies. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently at the funeral of First Lady Rosalynn Carter, her grandson Jason shared his memories of his beloved grandmother including two food memories. First, he commented that almost all of his grandmother\u2019s recipes included mayonnaise (something many of us can relate to). Then he relayed a story of a flight she took with her grandchildren:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plane took off and we looked over and my grandmother took out this Tupperware of pimento cheese and this loaf of bread and she just started making sandwiches. She gave them to all of us grandkids and then she started giving them to other people on the plane.\u201d *<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That food memory got me thinking about 20th<\/sup> century First Ladies and their recipes. This topic continues to be of interest to cookbook authors and newspaper food writers. Readers enjoy trying recipes from famous people. Searching through historical newspapers is one way you can find recipes served by or enjoyed by First Ladies and their families.<\/p>\n

Rosalynn Carter<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: First Lady Rosalynn Carter, 1977. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aside from her pimento cheese sandwiches, Rosalynn Carter had a number of recipes published in newspaper articles, including a few that were first printed in the Plains Pot-Pourri<\/em> cookbook by the Junior Women\u2019s Club of Plains, Georgia, in 1977. Two of the First Lady\u2019s recipes, \u201cPlains Special\u201d Cheese Ring and a Chicken and Rice Casserole, are featured. Other Carter women recipes included daughter Amy Carter\u2019s Daisy Salad, Lilian Carter\u2019s Peanut Butter Cookies (Jimmy Carter\u2019s mother), and Sybil Carter\u2019s Grits and Egg Casserole (wife of Billy Carter).<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia), 20 January 1977, page 33<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
Atlanta Journal (Atlanta, Georgia), 20 January 1977, page 33<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Patricia Nixon<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: First Lady Patricia Nixon, 1972. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to this 1988 newspaper article coinciding with the release of the cookbook The White House Family Cookbook<\/em> by Henry Haller, Pat Nixon\u2019s meatloaf recipe was so popular that it was printed on White House stationery and sent to those who requested it. This family-style recipe calls for onion, garlic, thyme, marjoram, fresh pepper and parsley.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 3 March 1988, page 82<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another recipe enjoyed by Pat Nixon but prepared by the family chef is found in historical newspapers printed in 1972 during her husband\u2019s presidency. The recipe for Chicken with Walnuts includes soy sauce, cabbage, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia), 23 January 1972, page 93<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Betty Ford<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: First Lady Betty Ford, 1974. Credit: David Hume Kennerly; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to any causes they supported, newspaper articles about First Ladies often focused on home matters such as cooking, whether they cooked the recipes or not. This 1976 sampler of White House recipes includes Betty Ford\u2019s Ruby-Red Grapefruit Chicken. Aside from grapefruit this recipe also calls for cranberry sauce and honey.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Record Searchlight (Redding, California), 7 February 1976, page 64<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The same article includes a dessert, Strawberry Blitz Torte, which is labeled as one of Betty Ford\u2019s favorite desserts.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Record Searchlight (Redding, California), 7 February 1976, page 61<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barbara Bush<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: First Lady Barbara Bush, 1989. Credit: David Valdez; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s hard to know if recipes attributed to a famous person are really from that person. In this case, this chocolate chip cookie recipe published in the San Antonio Light<\/em> on 29 July 1992 was <\/em>Barbara Bush\u2019s recipe \u2013 or at least, the one she used, borrowed from a friend. The newspaper article explains that a previous recipe printed in Family Circle<\/em> magazine, originally from a McCall\u2019s<\/em> magazine article, credited a recipe to Barbara Bush \u2013 but First Lady Bush came forward to set the record straight. That recipe was from a chef who worked for the family. The corrected recipe printed here was provided by the First Lady\u2019s press office.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas), 29 July 1992, page 33<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First Food<\/strong><\/p>\n

Historical newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, are a great place to search for the recipes enjoyed by presidential first families. In addition to newspapers, First Ladies\u2019 recipes can be found in community cookbooks printed in the state they were from as well as cookbooks focusing on the White House. Most enjoyed the food of professionally trained chefs while serving in the presidency, but many had favorite recipes they prepared or passed on to their kitchen staff.<\/p>\n

Searching newspaper articles for First Lady recipes should use her name and the keyword \u201crecipe.\u201d Also, a search of the words \u201cWhite House\u201d and the keyword \u201crecipe\u201d will reveal cookbooks with recipes.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> mixing bowl and cooking utensils.<\/p>\n

* \u201cRosalynn Carter Practiced Tai Chi with a Sword, Says Grandson Jason: \u2018She Was a Cool Grandma,\u2019\u201d People (https:\/\/people.com\/rosalynn-carter-tai-chi-sword-jason-carter-speech-8407897<\/a>: accessed 1 December 2023).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to find favorite recipes from some recent First Ladies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":96467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12427],"tags":[5672,19013,2020],"class_list":["post-96435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-recipes","tag-first-ladies","tag-food-and-recipes","tag-newspaper-archives"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/illustration-1204-2015-featured-graphic-cooking.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96435"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96465,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96435\/revisions\/96465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}