Lincoln Was a Humble Eater

Over its first four weeks, the movie "Lincoln" has been drawing big crowds, and ticket sales have exceeded $83 million so far. The Spielberg film focuses on President Lincoln's efforts to secure passage of the 13th Amendment, which constitutionally banned slavery.

The movie doesn't show Abraham Lincoln dining in presidential splendor, which is appropriate because the 16th president of the United States had humble tastes when it came to food.  He liked bacon and vegetables, but his favorite food was probably the apple, and lunch was often just an apple with a glass of milk.

The stresses of being a wartime president left Lincoln feeling increasingly indifferent toward food. John Hay, one of Lincoln’s secretaries, said, "He ate less than anyone I know."

Oswald Lied About Lunch

After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Dallas police took Lee Harvey Oswald into custody. During one interrogation session, detectives asked Oswald for his alibi — what was he doing when the president was shot on the street outside the Texas School Book Depository, where Oswald worked.

"I told you," Oswald replied. "I was eating lunch in the lunchroom with a couple of the colored boys who work with me. One is named Junior and the other is a little short man. I don't know his name."

Detectives were able to confirm that Oswald was lying about his alibi, as well as what he claimed to have eaten for lunch: a cheese sandwich and an apple.

Condi Rice Was the Dinner Decider

Condoleezza Rice, the former U.S. secretary of state, was born on this date in 1954. Long before she began overseeing the nation's foreign policy, Rice was influencing her family's dinner menu.

As early as age 4, Condoleezza was determining what the Rices would have for dinner. Her mother, Ann, would ask her young daughter what she wanted for dinner, and Condoleezza would reply without hesitation. "Ann would cook exactly what Condoleezza said," recalled a family friend. "And (father) John would eat exactly what Condoleezza said. And he would enjoy it!"

Condi's stepmother, Clara, later remembered that the future secretary of state "was always the person in charge of the food, when we eat."

Salvation Soda

The American writer and humorist Will Rogers was born on this date in 1879. After drinking his first ice cream soda as a kid, Rogers summed up the experience for a friend. "You will think that you have died and gone to heaven," said Rogers.

A Devilish Dinner

Christopher Anstey, the English writer-poet who is honored with a memorial inside Westminster Abbey, was born in 1724 on Halloween — a fact that makes sense considering that Anstey wrote this verse:

“If ever I ate a good supper at night,

I dreamed of the devil and waked in a fright.”