FROM THE FOUNDING TABLE TO YOUR KITCHEN
POTUSPLATETHE PRESIDENTIAL TABLEHISTORY IS SERVED.
Presidents/A bigger American table

PRESIDENT 32 · 1933–1945

At the table with
Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The thirty-second president led the United States through the Depression and much of World War II.

Choose a dish ↓
The royal-picnic hot dog — a little vintage colour

THE HISTORICAL TABLE

Simple food, even when a king came to lunch

Family or White House tradition

Housekeeper Henrietta Nesbitt remembered Roosevelt enjoying straightforward American food, including scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, fish chowder and hot dogs. The hot dog also has a particularly public chapter: Franklin and Eleanor served it at their Hyde Park picnic for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on 11 June 1939.

Our three dishes follow that combination of private taste and public hospitality. Grilled cheese is the quickest lunch, eggs the simplest breakfast, and hot dogs the picnic with a royal story. Each is a modern home version of a food connected to Roosevelt’s table.

Behind this story

FDR Presidential Library, Henrietta Nesbitt recollections; “The Royal Visit,” June 1939.