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| Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower with their family on Christmas 1957 |
François Rysavy served as chef for President Eisenhower from 1954-1957. After he left the White House he became fascinated with tracking down menus and recipes from Presidents across time. In 1972 he published A Treasury of White House Cooking and included bits and pieces of his research, including a chapter on the holiday meals of the Presidents.
During my years as an archivist Eisenhower Presidential Library I became familiar with the menus and other documents relating to meals served at the White House, but menus for family dinners were not commonly kept in those files. Rysavy, however, kept copies of menus for special meals that he prepared for the family. Here is the menu for the Eisenhower family Christmas dinner in 1955.
Not all the Presidents wanted such a formal meal on Christmas. Below are some menus for George Washington in 1795, James Polk in the 1840s, and Lyndon Johnson in 1965.
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