Presidential palates online
The food and drink preferences of Harry S Truman (well-done steaks) and Theodore Roosevelt (hardboiled eggs with waffles) ...
The recipe for Martha Washington's "Great Cake," calling for 40 eggs, 4 pounds of butter and 5 pounds of fruit ...
The story of James Hemings, a slave who was Thomas Jefferson's chef ...
Those are among the fascinating finds in the Library of Congress' online resource guide to presidential food, www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/SciRefGuides/presidentialfood.html.
Research specialist Alison Kelly compiled Internet links and titles of books and articles dealing with all things related to presidents and food over several months and posted them last week.
Interest in the minutiae of daily life at the White House always grows around inauguration time, but this year, "It's crazy how many people are interested in it," Kelly says. "It's partly just the Obamas, too."
The resource guide continues to grow. A colleague just sent Kelly a link from C-SPAN of a virtual tour of the White House kitchen, which she posted.
Janet Rausa Fuller