An overview of food and entertaining in the White House, 1901–1953. Authored by Patricia B. Mitchell. Edited by Sarah E. Mitchell. Foreword by former White House chef Martin C.J. Mongiello. Published 2005. 25 recipes, 141 research notes, 37 pages. 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Soft cover, saddle-stitched. ISBN-10: 1-929384-03-3. ISBN-13: 978-1-929384-03-7. This is the Compact Edition (spineless booklet format) available at museum, historic site, and specialty bookseller venues.**
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Writer Gilson Willets in 1908 used the words “plain food and high thinking” to describe the philosophy of Theodore Roosevelt. Patricia B. Mitchell chose his phrase to be the title of her book about White House entertaining under the eight administrations between 1901 and 1953. — Other administrations are covered in companion White House books.
Gossipy stories, quirky food preferences, anecdotes, and recipes enliven the text of Plain Food & High Thinking. Quotations such as FDR's comment about “chicken six times in a single week” reveal that affairs of the plate were sometimes as much a concern, at least momentarily, as affairs of state.
In a theme repeating itself throughout White House history, Calvin Coolidge revealed his envy of his servants' food — specifically, their big griddle cakes in contrast to his dainty ones.
The copious endnotes in Plain Food & High Thinking are useful to scholars and anyone interested in additional worthwhile reading and research.
Featured in the book are:
This Compact Edition of Plain Food and High Thinking can be purchased as a Kindle eBook Edition (Ad*). This title is also one of three compiled into a larger annotated and indexed Bookshelf Edition Presidential Flavors: White House Food and Entertaining 1800–1953.
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Copyright © 2005–2026 Henry H. Mitchell.