Mouthpiece

Eat, Drink And Be indie: Tasty Recipes, Inspiring Maker Stories & Exclusives

Star-Spangled Foods for our Founding Fathers

Happy Indie-pendence Day! We’re celebrating the 243rd birthday of America by remembering our Founding Foodie Fathers, all of whom were ardent proponents of our right (stay with us here) to eat and drink whatever the hell we want. (Certainly at our July 4th weekend BBQs!)

Here’s our take on what they might be enjoying if there were with us today...

GEORGE WASHINGTON

As you probably have heard by now, it’s not really true that Washington chopped down a cherry tree – his first biographer made up the story as a way to illustrate George W.’s propensity for not telling a lie. But let’s not cherry pick, because, either way, we know he would go crazy for some meat slathered with this BBQ sauce made with Michigan cherries. He might also enjoy kicking back with a sparkling libation spiked with tart cherry grenadine. Honestly. 

JOHN ADAMS 

Our second president (who died on our nation’s 50th birthday) rose early and was rumored to drink a tankard of hard cider every morning! We’re thinking his 5 am wake up would go a lot more…smoothly with cold brew made with our new Cold Brew Kit. We’re quite sure he’d be delighted by the concept of a tumbler [link] that would keep his drink cold all day along with a metal straw. Truly revolutionary!

THOMAS JEFFERSON 

Principal author of the Declaration of Independence (who died just hours before his compatriot John), Jefferson was an OG farm-to-table kind of guy. He had countless crops on his Monticello estate, including green beans. Plus, he once said "On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar." Hence, we think it's, ahem, self-evident that he would love a Bloody Mary garnished with a pickled Jalabeaños

SAM ADAMS

We all know how this Bostonite felt about beer, so we’re betting that he'd like one our favorite bar snacks – caramelized pretzel nuggets made with beer from Brooklyn Brewery. Cheers! 

JAMES MADISON

Thank our fourth president for your most valued freedoms, which he championed in the Bill of Rights. Madison supposedly drained a pint of whiskey every day at Montpelier, his estate in Virginia. We’d give him our Just Add Whiskey kit as a host gift – it's got game-changing mixers, bitters, unbreakable rocks glasses and cocktail cherries (and we know he'll share those cherries with the General). 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

Kite flyer and inventor of bifocals, who apparently once said, “If I could find in any Italian travels a recipe for making Parmesan Cheese, it would give me more satisfaction than a transcript of any inscription from any stone.” So this weekend, we'd just make it easy for Ben and set up a swanky picnic with Plymouth cheese, crackers and this fabulous olive parmesan tapenade. And an apple. Ben tells us it keeps the doctor away. 

So here's to enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...and deliciousness.