For presidents it's hail to the chef

One year from today, on Jan. 20, 2017, while the world watches the presidential oath of office being administered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, a chef will stand at attention in the White House kitchen, ready to take orders. It takes a strong constitution to cook for the president of the United States of America, but once all the inaugural balls are over, a new family with new tastes needs to be fed.

• The first official state dinner at the White House, which is a formal, multicourse meal held in honor of visiting heads of state, was in 1877 when President Ulysses S. Grant hosted King David Kalakaua from the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

• Richard Nixon was quite fond of French wine, and it wasn't until Ronald Reagan that it became de rigueur to serve American wines. Being the former governor of California might have influenced that decision, but wines from 20 states have since been served.

• Nixon was also known to get drunk and abusive, according to Milton Eisenhower who claimed then-Vice President Nixon consumed five or six martinis before an official event with diplomats from the Soviet Union.

• First Lady Michelle Obama served pickled vegetables that were grown in the White House kitchen garden at one state dinner.

• "Nachos. That's one of those where I have to have it taken away from me. I'll have guacamole coming out of my eyeballs," said President Barack Obama on Jerry Seinfeld's show "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."

• Sounding more petulant than commander in chief-like, President George H.W. Bush declared that he didn't like broccoli as a child, and that he wouldn't eat it in the White House.

• The White House kitchen has the capacity to serve dinner for as many as 140 guests and hors d'oeuvres for more than 1,000. Any bigger of a crowd, and reinforcements have to be brought in.

• Navy stewards have provided food service to the commander in chief since 1880, but it was first lady Jacqueline Kennedy who began the tradition of having an executive chef.

• Peanuts. Yes, that's what Jimmy Carter, a former peanut farmer from Georgia, served visitors to the White House.

• While it's hard to prove that President Thomas Jefferson was really the person who first brought pasta to our shores, he did create a drawing and instructions for a machine that made maccaroni (sic).

• Tennessean Andrew Jackson took his populist stance seriously and invited the public to the White House for a post-inaugural reception. He learned that a good way to get a crowd out of your house is to move the whiskey punch bowls onto the lawn.

• Current executive White House chef Cristeta Comerford is the first woman to hold that role. Henry Haller served the longest as the chef in charge, from 1966 until 1987.

• Obama's kitchen staff also home brews beer made with White House honey. The ale and porter are aged in the cellar and offered to guests. George Washington made whiskey at Mt. Vernon, and both Carter and Jefferson made wine on their farms.

• While no alcohol was served at the White House events during Prohibition, archivists say there was evidence that it didn't stop the drinking.

• Single and maybe looking for love, newly inaugurated President James Buchanan served 400 gallons of oysters.

• While Obama held his hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible during his first swearing-in ceremony, he also had a luncheon purportedly inspired by seafood stew, one of Honest Abe's favorite dishes.

Reach Jim Myers at 615-259-8367 and on Twitter @ReadJimMyers.