Alex Prud'homme invites readers into the White House kitchen to reveal the sometimes curious tastes of twenty-six of America's most influential presidents and the ways their choices affected food policy around the world. What our leaders say about food touches on everything from our nation's shifting diet and local politics to global trade, war, class, gender, race, and so much more. Prud'homme also details overlooked figures, like George Washington's enslaved chef, Hercules Posey, whose meals burnished the president's reputation before the cook narrowly escaped to freedom, and pioneering First Ladies, such as Dolley Madison and Jackie Kennedy. Prud'homme shows that food is not just fuel when it is served to the most powerful people in the world. It is a tool of communication, a lever of power and persuasion, and a symbol of the nation.