From the L.A. Times
Barack Obama will be sworn into office on Tuesday -- just weeks before
the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Obama's inaugural theme,
"A New Birth of Freedom," has, fittingly, been drawn from his fellow
Illinoisan's Gettysburg Address, and he's supposed to be sworn in using
Lincoln's own Bible. The inaugural menu is based on what supposedly
were some of Lincoln's favorite foods, and even the inaugural china is
a replica of that used in the Lincoln White House. Despite these
connections, let's hope that Obama's inaugural meal does not duplicate
Lincoln's first, which turned into a food fight.
Lincoln's inaugural committee had planned a lavish midnight buffet for the inaugural ball: terrapin stew, leg of veal, beef à l'anglais,
foie gras, pâté, cream candies, fruit ices, tarts, cakes and more. The
venue was the Patent Office, which had two spacious halls for dancing
and dining. The buffet was set out in a corridor where patent models
were displayed.