{"id":97669,"date":"2024-02-19T11:48:33","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T16:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=97669"},"modified":"2024-02-19T11:59:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T16:59:02","slug":"celebrating-washingtons-birthday-presidential-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/celebrating-washingtons-birthday-presidential-food.html","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Washington\u2019s Birthday: Presidential Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article \u2013 to help celebrate Washington\u2019s birthday on today, Presidents\u2019 Day \u2013 Gena Philibert-Ortega provides recipes for you to prepare something special for family and friends. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Presidents\u2019 Day honors both the first and the 16th presidents of the United States, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But officially it is Washington\u2019s Birthday.<\/p>\n

\"Illustrations:<\/a>
Illustrations: \u201cGeorge Washington\u201d by Gilbert Stuart, and \u201cAbraham Lincoln\u201d by George Peter Alexander Healy. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Wikipedia:<\/p>\n

George Washington was born on 22 February 1732. Washington\u2019s Birthday was celebrated on this date from 1879 until 1970. To give federal employees a three-day weekend, in 1968 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved it to the third Monday in February. The day soon became known as Presidents(\u2019) Day (the presence and placement of the apostrophe varies) and provides an occasion to remember all the U.S. presidents, to honor Abraham Lincoln\u2019s [Feb. 12] and Washington\u2019s birthdays together, or any single president of choice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In decades past, that day was not just an excuse for a three-day weekend (it wasn\u2019t always celebrated on a Monday). It meant celebrating Washington\u2019s birthday like any birthday: with food. Reading historical newspapers gives you some ideas about what kinds of food to cook for a presidential celebration.<\/p>\n

Pies<\/strong><\/p>\n

I assumed that every recipe for Washington\u2019s birthday would be cherry-based, and some were. It makes sense that Washington\u2019s birthday means newspaper recipes for cherry pie since the president and cherries are eternally linked.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: cherry pie with a lattice top crust. Credit: Benny Mazur; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This 1962 \u201cold-fashioned\u201d cherry pie recipe includes 3 cups of canned cherries, cherry juice, and red food coloring (which doesn\u2019t seem that old fashioned). You could make this pie recipe today and use a premade pie crust. If you aren\u2019t concerned about having a red colored pie, you could skip the food coloring.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 22 February 1962, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This 1941 newspaper article suggests a traditional cherry pie and adds a suggestion for a cottage cheese lattice top crust. The pie recipe is surrounded by an article about National Turkey Day on February 22nd and the suggestion to cook turkey along with the cherry pie to celebrate Washington\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Milwaukee Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), 21 February 1941, page 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cakes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cakes and pies seem to be the standard recipes to serve on Washinton\u2019s birthday. This cake from 1956 is a little more interesting than others I found. It\u2019s a rainbow sponge cake which in and of itself is visually interesting. Rainbow colors are a product of the various fruit fillings added to slices of the cake so that when it\u2019s cut you see the rainbow of fruit colors. More interesting is the suggestion to decorate it with \u201cred sugar hatchets and red cherries.\u201d Obviously, a nod to the myth of Washington cutting down a cherry tree.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 17 February 1956, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another appropriately themed cake is the log cake recipe found in this 1946 issue of the Evening Star<\/em>. A chocolate log cake (maybe even with the red hatchets) is one way to evoke Washington\u2019s memory. In this version of a log cake, the cake is baked in a loaf pan and then trimmed to look like a log. There is a recipe for chocolate frosting, or you could use store-bought frosting.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 20 February 1946, page 28<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And More Presidential Treats<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not all newspaper recipes for Washington\u2019s birthday are pies and cakes. In some cases, I found recipes for jams and jellies! I like this 1951 Plain Dealer<\/em> newspaper article because it provides some details about the celebration of the day.<\/p>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Because this is a special day in history and tradition, it\u2019s more than likely that homemakers will be planning parties, gala teas or luncheons and serving party foods. Of course, you will want to decorate your table with cherry blossoms, real or artificial, with sprays of brightly colored cherries, and miniature cherry trees. Cut your sandwiches or tea cookies in the shape of hatchets and use a delicious jam or jelly for spread or filler.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Keeping with that advice, the recipes listed are grape jelly and pineapple marmalade.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Kansas City, Kansas), 16 February 1951, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Kansas City, Kansas), 16 February 1951, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This 1979 Mobile Register<\/em> food column provides recipes for dinner and dessert to celebrate Washington\u2019s birthday. It suggests that one of the popular dishes in Washington\u2019s family was Brunswick Stew. This simplified version of the stew includes cans of corn and lima beans, packaged chicken noodle soup, and a can of stewed tomatoes. For dessert is a cherry torte with multiple layers of cake and ice cream with a cherry sauce.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Mobile Register (Mobile, Alabama), 15 February 1979, page 43<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
Mobile Register (Mobile, Alabama), 15 February 1979, page 43<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Celebrate Presidents\u2019 Day with Food<\/strong><\/p>\n

Presidents\u2019 Day is a good excuse to try something different. Historical newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, have numerous suggestions and recipes for celebrating Washington\u2019s Birthday. To find these recipes, go to the GenealogyBank advanced search engine and type in the first name box \u201cWashington\u2019s Birthday.\u201d Then in the keyword box type in the word \u201crecipe\u201d (without quote marks). That will help you narrow your search to recipes that were published for Washington\u2019s Birthday.<\/p>\n

Happy Presidents\u2019 Day!<\/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> \u201cHappy Presidents\u2019 Day\u201d with special pie. Credit: https:\/\/depositphotos.com\/home.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To help celebrate Washington\u2019s birthday on today, Presidents\u2019 Day, Gena Philibert-Ortega provides recipes for you to prepare something special.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":97699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12427,12703],"tags":[19013,1691,51143],"class_list":["post-97669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-recipes","category-holidays","tag-food-and-recipes","tag-presidents-day","tag-washingtons-birthday"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/photo-0219-2024-featured-graphic-happy-presidents-day.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97669","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=97669"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97703,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97669\/revisions\/97703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}