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Food Connects Private Taste And Public Power
- The White House food story links presidents' personal tastes to diplomacy, domestic policy, and culture.
- Food acts as both a political tool and a mirror of American social change, from slavery to global aid.
Jefferson’s Dinner Table Bargains
- Thomas Jefferson hosted frequent congressional dinners and used them to broker deals across party lines.
- He tracked attendees and used those meals to gather intelligence and influence legislation.
Hidden Service At Monticello
- Jefferson built contraptions at Monticello to limit visible movement of enslaved servants during dinners.
- Those hidden systems relied on significant behind-the-scenes labor by enslaved people to produce the meals.