A table in Monticello's Dining Room is set for six guest with a white cloth, white china with light green detail, Jefferson cups, and silver cutlery, with two dumbwaiters flanking on opposite corners.

Food

From Madeira wine to French desserts, fine cuisine was always on Jefferson's menu.

“ He ate heartily, and much vegetable food, preferring French cookery, because it made the meats more tender.”
Thomas Jefferson Randolph

Half French-Half Virginian

"Dinner is served in half Virginian, half French style, in good taste and abundance. No wine is put on the table till the cloth is removed."
-Daniel Webster, 1824

A table in Monticello's Dining Room is set for six guest with a white cloth, white china with light green detail, Jefferson cups, and silver cutlery, with two dumbwaiters flanking on opposite corners.

The "half Virginian, half French style" famed at Monticello and prized by Thomas Jefferson was pioneered by enslaved Chef James Hemings.

“ Never before had such dinners been given in the President's House”
Margaret Bayard Smith

Dining with Jefferson

“ no nation is drunken where wine is cheap”
Thomas Jefferson, 1818

Wine, Beer, and Cider

Monticello's Enslaved Cooks

Related Topics

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