The Bizarre Story Of President Taft's White House Possum Dinners

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William Howard Taft served as America's 27th President from 1909 until 1913. He is often recalled in history as also being the only President to serve on the Supreme Court, a position he secured in 1921 and held until 1930. Aside from his professional life, history remembers Taft as a leader with a voracious appetite. Not only did he regularly eat steak for breakfast, but it's estimated that he consumed over 8,000 calories every day, and had a fondness for some unconventional dishes, such as turtle soup (which has basically disappeared in the US), and roasted possum.

Taft first became equated with possum dinners in January 1909, when he was still the President-Elect. The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce hosted a banquet in his honor in the capital city of Georgia, and while various Southern ingredients and dishes were planned, Taft specifically requested "possum and taters," a regional favorite. For the 600 plus guests in attendance, a full 100 baked possums were served with sweet potatoes. Shortly after the event, Taft proclaimed, "Well I certainly like possum...I ate very heartily of it last night and it did not disturb in the slightest my digestion or my sleep," via dannwoellerthefoodetymologist.

This culinary revelation resulted in several presidential dinners in which possum was served, including Thanksgiving of that very same year, when a giant 26-pound possum was roasted for the big feast. The President's association with the marsupial became so famous that toy makers began marketing and producing stuffed possum animals named "Billy Possum" to mimic the success of stuffed teddy bears that skyrocketed under President Theodore Roosevelt.

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Possums are America's only native marsupials, so naturally, the scavenger has served as a protein source for many civilizations since early Native Americans. There is written documentation from the early 1600s of settlers coming into contact with the nocturnal animals, which was described as tasting similar to roasted pig. Possums became synonymous with Southern cuisine because they appeared to be present in the Southern states, extending up to Maryland.

While many Americans today might cringe at the thought of roasting possum for a meal, the animals were not historically differentiated from other types of game animals such as wild rabbit, squirrel, turkey, or deer, and ate it as a protein source accordingly. Long before President Taft dined on roasted possum in Atlanta, Thomas Jefferson apparently played with them as a child; Benjamin Harrison kept two as pets while living in the White House; and Franklin D. Roosevelt heartily enjoyed possum before he became President. Jimmy Carter (who couldn't resist peanut butter pie) mentioned eating plenty of possum as a child in his memoir, "An Hour Before Daylight." In it, he suggested trapping the animals and feeding them "clean" food for a few days before slaughtering them, since they are scavengers by nature, via the Library of Congress.

When they aren't being eaten, possums are very beneficial to the environment; they are not aggressive by nature, nor do they damage property. They consume thousands of Lyme disease-spreading ticks, animal carcasses, garden pests, and even venomous snakes. And, if you're curious or hungry enough, they apparently make a meal good enough for a President as well.