Eat like Lincoln with new cookbook

SPRINGFIELD _ If we really are what we eat, Abraham Lincoln was rare steak, fruit, coffee, and pecan cake.

A new cookbook announced Friday by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield sheds new insight on the 16th president's diet.

Among the tidbits: honest Abe ate heavy meals in winter to keep warm. And Lincoln had a sweet tooth.

"A. Lincoln Cookbook: A Cookbook of Epic Portions" includes 623 recipes, including many of the confections Mary Todd Lincoln created in her kitchen.

Lincoln museum volunteers also contributed recipes.

The cookbook goes for $40 a copy, and proceeds benefit the museum's volunteer services department.

It will also be available online at www.presidentlincoln.org.