Famous for its food and drink, the Golden State influenced the diets and policies of presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.

 In 1903 Roosevelt and the naturalist John Muir camped in Yosemite Valley, where they ate campfire steaks and debated conserving land for public use. As a result, TR preserved 230 million acres, founded the US Forest Service and five national parks, and their trek was deemed “the most consequential camping trip in American history.”

 Richard Nixon, the only native Californian elected president, saw food as fuel and ate cottage cheese for lunch every day. So it was a surprise when he led important food programs and ate exotic dishes in Beijing while conducting “chopstick diplomacy” in 1972 – which spurred America’s Chinese restaurant craze.

Ronald Reagan liked TV dinners, meat and potatoes, and jellybeans. Nancy Reagan hardly ate, but emulated Jackie Kennedy and hosted spectacular evenings for Lady Diana and the Gorbachevs at the White House. Yet it was at their simple ranch in Santa Ynez that they felt most at home -- and helped bring global attention to California’s wines.

Alex Prud’homme has been a nonfiction writer for thirty years. As a journalist he has covered a wide range of subjects for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Talk, and Time. As an author he has written nine books, on subjects ranging from biotech to terrorism, fresh water, and food. He is best known for co-writing Julia Child’s memoir My Life in France, a #1 NYT best-seller that inspired half the film “Julie & Julia.” In February 2023, Alfred A. Knopf published Dinner With the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House, a narrative history of the politics of food and the food of politics. Covering 26 presidents -- from George Washington starving at Valley Forge to Donald Trump’s burgers and the Bidens’ pasta and ice cream -- the book includes sixteen pages of color illustrations and ten presidential recipes.