At the table with
Martin Van Buren.

THE HISTORICAL TABLE

A political attack left us a vegetable list

In 1840, Congressman Charles Ogle attacked Van Buren’s supposedly extravagant White House in the “gold spoon” speech. Along the way he listed the kitchen garden’s potatoes, cabbages, beets, peas, carrots, parsnips and berries.

That hostile speech is useful evidence for ingredients, not a reliable dinner menu. Our supper reconstructs a seasonal plate from the listed vegetables: roasted roots, tender cabbage and peas. The result brings a surprisingly colourful White House garden to an ordinary home kitchen.