FROM THE FOUNDING TABLE TO YOUR KITCHEN
POTUSPLATETHE PRESIDENTIAL TABLEHISTORY IS SERVED.
Presidents/The family-album years

PRESIDENT 39 · 1977–1981

At the table with
Jimmy Carter.

The thirty-ninth president came from Plains, Georgia, and had worked in the family peanut business.

Choose a dish ↓
Eggplant soufflé — a little vintage colour

THE HISTORICAL TABLE

The peanut farmer who especially liked eggplant

Family or White House tradition

Peanuts are the obvious shorthand for Carter, but family interviews point to a more useful dinner idea. Rosalynn Carter described Jimmy’s enthusiasm for eggplant, and eggplant soufflé appears as a favourite. White House accounts place it within a broader Southern comfort-food kitchen.

That is why the soufflé leads this menu. Roast and drain the eggplant well, then fold it into a savoury egg mixture for a light main dish. Peanut cookies follow as a reconstruction from the family’s Georgia agricultural setting, keeping the familiar peanut connection in its proper place.

Behind this story

Library of Congress discussion of Carter family food interviews; White House Historical Association.