Gherkins & Tomatoes

Gherkins & Tomatoes

Meditations and Photographs about Food, Cooking, and Life

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Inaugural Luncheon 2009: Menu and Details

January 9, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

According to an e-mail from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the 2009 Inaugural Luncheon looks like this. Note that recipes are also included; click for a .pdf file of the recipes. Around 200 guests will attend this exclusive luncheon in Statuary Hall. Design Cuisine, a top-flight caterer in Washington, designed the menu, which “draws on historic ties to the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Growing up in the frontier regions of Kentucky and Indiana, the sixteenth President favored simple […]

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Cooking, Design Cuisine, Food, Inaugural Menu 2009, Inaugural menus, White House

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Gingerbread men (Photo credit: Gaetan Lee)

“A New Birth of Freedom”: Senator Feinstein Announces 2009 Inaugural Theme

November 9, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

If the presidential campaign and election of President-elect Barack Obama revered a patron saint, Abraham Lincoln would be the man. The great American poet and Lincoln biographer, Carl Sandburg, tells a story about Lincoln and gingerbread in his Prairie Years II, a story that Abe told in his fourth debate with Stephen A. Douglas – it may be an apocryphal story, as the only line in the transcripts of the debates seems to be the last one: “When we lived […]

Categories: Food News • Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Cooking, Food, Gingerbread, Inauguration 2009

thomas-jefferson

All the Presidents’ Tables: A. Lincoln’s Inaugural Beef à la Mode

October 27, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Thomas Jefferson’s cook quit upon seeing the kitchen at the White House. And George Washington placed a want ad for a cook: ”A cook is wanted for the family of the President of the United States,” it said. ”No one need apply who is not perfect in the business, and can bring indubitable testimonials of sobriety, honesty and attention to the duties of the station.”  Tavern owner, staunch patriot, and spy Samuel “Black Sam” Fraunces got the job, probably because […]

Categories: Beef, English Cooking, Recipes • Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Cooking, Food, Samuel Fraunces

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All the Presidents’ Tables: Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Menus

October 24, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

In the throes of the 2008 election campaign, I decided to do a little looking into what the candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, eat when no one’s watching. (Chili for Obama and ribs for McCain – hmmm, wonder if there’s any Freudian, Jungian undertones there?) Such musings lead, naturally, to a perusal of the various books out there about the presidents of the past and their food. In particular, the ostentatious inaugural dinners, with all the pomp and […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Cooking, Food

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Food forms the very essence of life, from the fruit fly to the elephant, with humans in between. So much of what we do revolves around cooking, eating, and the finding of food. Here you'll discover stories, meditations, and photographs celebrating the places that we call home. And, of course, the food that garnishes it all.

My book, due out September 15, 2013

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What’s Cookin’ Here

  • The Grocery List: Color, Primates, and Food Selection
  • A Bare Table is Like an Artist’s Canvas
  • “Stew’s so comforting on a rainy day.” *
  • Singkong, Manioc, Mandioca, Mandió, Tapioca, Yuca: Singing the Praises of Manihot esculenta (Cassava)

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