Member-only story
Presidential food tossing is nothing new
The little-known history of culinary tantrums in the White House
Many Americans expressed shock upon hearing televised testimony by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson that President Donald Trump smashed his lunch — a ketchup-drenched entrée otherwise unidentified —against a dining room wall in a fit of rage upon being told by William Barr, his handpicked Attorney General, that there was no credible evidence of election fraud.
The “shocked” apparently haven’t studied American history very deeply.
If they had, they’d know that Presidential food tossing is a tradition that goes back at least as far as James Garfield, who on more than one irate occasion splattered a bowl of squirrel stew, his favorite meal, on a White House wall. It’s even been rumored, though never conclusively confirmed, that Abraham Lincoln, a bacon lover, on occasion pelted his Vice President, Andrew Johnson, with crispy strips.
Here’s a partial list of U.S. Presidents and the foods they liked and (likely) sent flying when editorials, Senators or poll numbers displeased them:
Thomas Jefferson — macaroni and cheese
Andrew Jackson — “leather britches” (green beans with bacon)