📅This fact may be outdated
The fact is accurate but uses present tense ('liked') for a deceased president. Nixon died in 1994, so this should be stated in past tense. The preference itself is well-documented from his time in the White House (1969-1974).
Richard Nixon liked ketchup on his cottage cheese.
Nixon's Ketchup & Cottage Cheese: A Presidential Quirk
Richard Nixon's presidency gave us Watergate, the EPA, and détente with China. But perhaps his most enduring legacy in American popular culture is far simpler: ketchup on cottage cheese. This wasn't just an occasional indulgence—it was reportedly part of his regular breakfast routine in the White House.
The 37th president didn't even particularly like cottage cheese. He ate it on doctor's orders to help control his weight, and the ketchup was his solution to making the bland dairy product palatable. In his own words, Nixon credited his grandmother for the combination, noting she lived to 93 while eating the same peculiar pairing.
A Breakfast That Divided America
When news of Nixon's breakfast habits became public, the nation reacted with horror and fascination in equal measure. The White House received a flood of letters—some from concerned cottage cheese manufacturers, others from ketchup companies worried about their brand association with such a controversial combination.
A typical Nixon breakfast included:
- Fresh fruit
- Wheat germ
- Coffee
- Cottage cheese topped with ketchup (or sometimes black pepper)
Interestingly, White House chef Henry Haller later denied ever witnessing Nixon eat this concoction, suggesting the president may have abandoned the habit upon entering office or indulged only in private.
The Ultimate 1970s Diet Food
Nixon's food choices epitomized 1970s American eating habits. Cottage cheese was considered the ultimate diet food—low in calories, high in protein, and recommended by doctors nationwide for weight management. Ketchup, meanwhile, was America's favorite condiment, slathered on everything from hot dogs to meatloaf.
What made Nixon's combination so shocking wasn't the individual ingredients but their pairing. Sweet, tangy ketchup meeting cold, lumpy cottage cheese created a flavor profile that most Americans found deeply unsettling. Yet Nixon persisted, transforming a medical recommendation into a personal ritual.
White House staffer Stephen Bull confirmed the habit in a 2007 interview, though he recalled it as a lunch item rather than breakfast. The discrepancy suggests Nixon may have eaten his controversial combo more frequently than just one meal per day.
Presidential Food Legacies
Every president leaves behind food stories. Gerald Ford loved his butter pecan ice cream. George H.W. Bush famously hated broccoli. But Nixon's ketchup-and-cottage-cheese remains uniquely memorable—a perfect symbol of a complicated, contradictory leader who followed his own rules, even at the breakfast table.
Today, the combination has achieved cult status among presidential food trivia enthusiasts. Some brave souls have even attempted to recreate Nixon's breakfast, with reviews ranging from "surprisingly tolerable" to "exactly as horrifying as expected." The cottage cheese industry, at least, has moved on to more appetizing mix-ins like fruit and honey.
