George Washington was our second tallest president. At 6'2", he was second only to Lincoln and the same height as Lyndon Johnson. His weight fluctuated between 175 and 210 lbs due to a constant series of illnesses. His size automatically made him appear heroic at a time when the average man  was 5'7" and weighed 140 lbs .Washington had a terrible complexion pitted and scarred by the smallpox that he contracted when he was nineteen. The disease also left him sterile, an ironic condition for "the father of our country." Washington was also fairly promiscuous which led to his nickname "the stallion of the Potomac." 

The legends about Washington's life are as extraordinary as some of the miracles assigned to early saints. "Most of the poplar legends including the cherry tree story, were invented by Parson Weems, an eighteenth century preacher/writer/publicist.  Weems wrote several successful fictional biographies of national heroes, including Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, and Francis Marion. However, it was Weems' History of the Life, Death, Virtues, and Exploits of General Washington that became a best-seller for more than a century.

There were three culinary tributes to Washington that were popular during his lifetime. The George Washington Cake recipe goes back to 1780 and is a light pound cake flavored with citron. The George Washington Pie is basically a single layer white cake, split, and filled with strawberry jam and sprinkled with powder sugar. The cherry pie did not become associated with Washington's birthday until the middle of the nineteenth century after Weems inserted the apocryphal story in one of the latest editions of his biography of our first president.

One of Washington's favorite foods was a combination of four omelets served on a plate. overlapping each other The first omelet was filled with applies; the second with either asparagus or morels; the third with fines herbes, and the fourth filled with cheese. Originally called Omelettes à la Macédoine, it was also called Omelettes à la Washington because of his fondness of the dish.

Washington has been portrayed in numerous films and TV special including the TV mini-series George Washington (1964), the ten-part History channel's The Revolution (2006), the PBS six-hour documentary Liberty! The American Revolution (1997), The Patriot (2000), and The Crossing (2000).

To celebrate our first president's birthday, we suggest the classic George Washington Cake and watching the campy The Washingtonians (2007), the twelfth episode of the second season of TV's Masters of Horror, in which George is portrayed as a cannibal. In this alternate history of the birth of the United States,  we are told that George was addicted to the taste of human flesh, having one man killed a day to satisfy his addiction, and intended to lead the country on a mission of turning everyone into cannibals.