Ulysses S. Grant's Favorite Thing To Eat For Breakfast Was A Little Unhinged

Ulysses S. Grant made waves plenty of times in his storied life. Whether it was leading the Union Armies to victory during the Civil War or becoming the 18th president of the United States, Grant has surely solidified himself in the history books. But one relatively wacky detail may have been glossed over in our textbooks: Ulysses S. Grant started every morning with a cucumber for breakfast.

During his time as a commanding general, Grant's breakfast typically consisted of a cup of black coffee followed up by a cucumber soaked in vinegar, possibly similar to a quick pickle. While he likely, on occasion, partook in the standard breakfast of a Union soldier — a more ordinary ration of hardtack and beans — the future president wasn't a big eater during the Civil War and no one really knows quite what started his cucumber habit.

Before working on the battlefields, though, Grant wrote his father a letter about plans for his farm in Missouri and the crops he was hoping to grow. Amongst the list of veggies like corn and cabbage, he names cucumber pickles as a vegetable he intended to cultivate over several acres. Maybe that vinegar-soaked cucumber breakfast was simply a flavorful reminder of home?

While Ulysses S. Grant was very thin during the Civil War, he began to fill out his clothes once he took office as the 18th president of the United States. It may have had something to do with having a full kitchen staff on-hand, or a hope to never return to such a sparse breakfast of cucumber ever again, but Grant became known for his indulgent starts to the day once in the Oval Office. A typical breakfast spread then would often include bacon, steak, Spanish mackerel, fried apples, and buckwheat cakes, all washed down with a cup of black coffee (some habits die hard).

If you're wondering how he liked his morning steak, Grant was a fan of well done meat (similar to the steak habits of more recent American president Donald Trump). Grant's distaste for the violence of war and guns crossed over to the dining table, too, where he couldn't stomach the sight of blood. Because of this, any meat dishes served to Grant had to be cooked to the point of being practically charred.

Despite being more known for his breakfast routine, Grant was also the first president to host a White House state dinner in 1874. He and First Lady Julia Grant welcomed King Kalakaua of Hawai'i, the island's last monarch. While the menu for the night has been lost to time, the Washington Evening Star newspaper wrote about it the next day, describing the evening as "brilliant beyond all precedent." No notes on if cucumbers in vinegar were served.

Beyond Ulysses S. Grant's love of pickles for breakfast, there are plenty of other U.S. presidents with noteworthy eating habits. William Howard Taft, the country's 27th president, started each morning's breakfast with a juicy 12-ounce steak. Taft favored plenty of classic breakfast dishes like butter toast, hash browns, and sugary cups of coffee with cream, but avoided eggs at all costs.

Taft's eyebrow-raising meal options don't stop there. The former president resided in the White House during the early 20th century when turtle soup was a popular specialty. Taft was such a heavy consumer of this reptile-based dish that he had a specially commissioned chef on staff for preparing each batch. The recipe included veal broth and terrapin turtle meat, all served up in a bowl with a glass of champagne on the side.

And what better way to end a meal with some dessert? Ronald Reagan's sweet tooth had him ordering a whopping 720 pounds of jelly beans each month for the White House. Originally, Reagan started enjoying the Jelly Belly brand candy as a way to break his pipe smoking habit while running for Governor of California. Soon, he became so associated with jelly beans that he gifted jars of them to White House guests including heads of state and foreign diplomats. But, despite red (cherry), white (coconut), and blue (blueberry) jelly beans being the go-to color choices, Reagan's favorite flavor was actually black licorice.