President Obama and his family will have a traditional Thanksgiving meal this holiday, enjoying a menu that will look familiar to many American families: Turkey, ham, stuffing and plenty on the side. What’s remarkable is the dessert menu: the number of pies rivals the number of dishes in the dinner menu itself.
There are the Thanksgiving favorites, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. Perhaps to indulge Michelle Obama, there are the ostensibly healthier peach, apple and sweet potato pies. Cream pies are represented by banana, coconut and chocolate. Huckleberry caps the nine-pie lineup.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Obama and his family helped dish up out food at the Capital Area Food Bank in northeast Washington. As people passed the Obama family’s station at the food bank warehouse, the president handed out small bags of onions, and Mrs. Obama gave out carrots. Their daughters, Sasha, 12, and Malia, 15, were responsible for the apples and M&M’s (the latter in boxes bearing a presidential seal).
Marian Robinson, Mrs. Obama’s mother, gave out recipes for a sweet potato curry. Earlier in the day, during the traditional turkey pardoning, Mr. Obama said his family would bring “bring a couple less fortunate turkeys†to the food bank.
It should be noted that the pardoned turkeys, Popcorn and Carmel, may only be slightly more fortunate than their brethren. The blog Obama Foodorama reported last week that seven of the eight birds that Mr. Obama has pardoned only lived for a few months after the ceremony, and just one lived to see another Thanksgiving.
For those keeping track at home, here is the full White House Thanksgiving menu:
Dinner
Turkey
Honey-baked ham
Corn bread stuffing
Oyster stuffing
Greens
Macaroni and cheese
Sweet potatoes
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Dinner rolls
Dessert
Huckleberry pie
Pecan pie
Chocolate cream pie
Sweet potato pie
Peach pie
Apple pie
Pumpkin pie
Banana cream pie
Coconut cream pie
