Food, Churchill Style

As much as we know about Sir Winston Churchill, little appears in most biographies on what he liked to eat. He didn't prefer tea, that much is for certain. Of course, this shocked many people, because someone who was so characteristically British (actually, this mother was American) would be expected to guzzle tea by the gallons. Churchill, however, preferred to leave this quintessential British beverage to be enjoyed by Clemmie and her friends. In hindsight, this makes sense: Churchill was assertive and to the point; tea probably seemed too wishy-washy for him!


Churchill didn't comply with the then-current trend of a skimpy breakfast either. He enjoyed large breakfast of cold meats, a poached egg, a grapefruit, jam and toast, coffee, and orange juice. thebusinessinsider.com notes that "After eating, he would wash his hands and smoke a morning cigar."


When he had the time to do so, Winston Churchill also enjoyed taking picnics for lunch whenever possible. It would have been very enjoyable to pack a lunch and eat it outside with his family at Chartwell. Typical lunches would have been smaller meals for the Churchills, for the often attended large formal dinners.

Cita Stelzer notes that "All of Churchill’s dinners were working dinners; they had purposes. As an example, let's take a dinner during WWII. It was at Chequers, the prime minister’s country house. The evening would have started with guests getting together in the main drawing room, and the guests would have been quite varied. There would have been friends, definitely a family member, some press people, intelligence officials, admirals, Air Force generals, certainly Americans, probably the American ambassador, and one or two Free French people." A typical dinner would have included some sort of soup (never cream soups; Churchill hated them), roast chicken or game if it was in season, fruits, and vegetables. Finally, for dessert, Churchill preferred ice cream which he occasionally topped with decadent chocolate sauce, or pears and stilton cheese, another favorite.


If you want to learn more on the style of Churchill's dinners, you can buy Cita Stelzer's book Dinner With Churchill here.

Another interesting book is Churchill's Cookbook, written by Georgina Landemere, his long-time private chef. In this book, Landemere records numerous authentic recipes straight from Downing St. and Chartwell alike. You can buy it here.

Sources:

https://www.splendidtable.org/story/winston-churchill-s-dinner-table-clear-soup-cigars-and-above-all-conversation

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-12-highly-successful-people-eat-for-breakfast-2015-6#winston-churchill-always-ate-a-hearty-morning-meal-of-eggs-meat-and-toast-8

https://www.quora.com/How-did-Winston-Churchill-take-his-tea