OK, let’s set the secretary of agriculture aside for a minute, because that topic really deserves it own conversation. The White House Chef? Some people may laugh and think that the position is a novelty, but trust me, there is a lot of buzz about this. The bloggosphere of food writers and culinary enthusiasts are in heated discussion over who Obama will name as the nations First Chef. Perhaps the reason people are so interested in the appointment is because foodies have noticed that Obama eats well—he eats damn well.
Now, there is a difference between eating highbrow or eating trendy and eating well. By eating well, I mean that the Obamas definitely have the respect of many food writers, bloggers, and just general foodies due to their restaurant choices around Chicago. If Obama merely wanted to eat highbrow, he would eat at the myriad of ridiculously expensive steak houses around the city, or at the super trendy sushi places and huge fancy downtown restaurants that offer beautiful scenery and décor, attractive wait staff, and mediocre food—all for a hefty chunk-a-change. But the Obamas, besides being spotted at various incredibly delicious neighborhood joints around the windy city (including both Medici on 57th and Harold’s Chicken Shack in Hyde Park), frequents restaurants like Fonterra Grill, Charlie Trotters, and Spiagga. Don’t get me wrong—these places will cost you pretty penny as well (a TON of pretty pennies, actually), but these places are not only some of the best restaurants in the world, but all are known for their “Slow” ways (as in following the principles of the Slow Food Movement) as well sourcing all their ingredients from local purveyors and changing their menus according to the seasons. The point of me relaying all this info on where the Obamas eat is really just to point out that the Obamas are foodies—at least, (I think) Michele is a foodie. Like I said, they eat damn well.
Plenty of bloggers are using the Obamas’ choices of Chicago restaurants to predict who the next White House chef will be. Many predict that Obama will name Rick Bayless the White House Chef. Others are adamant that the appointment will go to Oprah’s personal chef, Art Smith. However, I disagree. I don’t think that it will be Bayless or the Oprah guy. Other people have suggested Charlie Trotter—but once again, I don’t think so. I am reluctant to “predict” anything, because I am horribly bad at predictions, but I will say who I think WOULD be a great pick for White House Chef, and why the heck it matters.
More than anything, I think that one of Obama’s great strengths as President will be to lead by example. He is already an inspiration to millions of black children around the country who can now realistically believe that they can grow up to be president one day. In an interview with Barbara Walters, the Obamas said that they intend to “open up the White House,” inviting both the children of all the people who work for the administration as well as D.C. neighborhood children to play with their kids. Barack Obama is extremely open about his workout regimen, and there sure is a ton of media hype about them adopting a rescue dog. The point being, the Obamas are attempting to openly set and example of good parenting, good fitness, and animal welfare already. I think we will continue to see similar openness regarding other aspects of their personal lives.
So, the White House Chef, who we normally see as a novelty, can also be a strategic pick aimed at setting an example for food and cooking in America. That is why I think that the First Chef should not be a highfalutin celebrity chef, but rather a cook who prepares simple food in accordance with the season and supports local farmers and producers. Michael Pollan puts forward this very same suggestion in his open letter to the President Elect. He says, “The choice of White House chef is always closely watched, and you [the president elect] would be wise to appoint a figure who is identified with the food movement and committed to cooking simple from fresh local ingredients. Besides feeding you and your family exceptionally well, such a chef would demonstrate how it is possible even in Washington to eat locally for much of the year, and that good food needn’t be fussy or complicated, but it does depend on good farming.” Pollan also suggests that the President Elect should name a White House farmer who would work closely with the chef to grow and procure the produce for the First Family.
The bottom line is that the White House chef is not a novelty. My faculty adviser for my bachelor’s thesis once told me, “Melissa, everything is political.” And this statement could not fit the situation more perfectly—make the White House chef a political statement. Make the food that the first family eats an example to the rest of the nation. And don’t just set an example of “good nutrition” by eating lots of veggies, but rather the President Elect should be mindful of the whole picture around food and set and example with HOW the first family eats.
Obviously, there are more pressing issues in our country at the moment to deal with than what the first family has for dinner. But we need to realize that food is wrapped up in these pressing issues. If we can get more people to farm, we create more jobs. If we can get better school lunches in public schools, and even gardening programs in public schools, we are improving both public health and education. (Studies have shown that there is sharp decline in elementary school kids attention spans after the lunch period when most of them eat tons of sugar.)
I can envision a role for the White House chef as not only the cook for the President and his visitors, but as an adviser to the President on issues surrounding food. I can envision the White House chef as supporting programs that will aid school lunch initiatives, especially in low-income communities. An executive chef does not slave away in the kitchen, but rather is more like the captain of a ship—overseeing the whole operation. So let the First chef oversee more than just the First Family’s meals—let he or she speak publicly and set and example for responsible eating. All this would be very subtle, but I think still very influential.
So with all of this said, who do I think Obama should name as White House chef? I am not making a prediction, but I would like to see Alice Waters as White House chef. She started a movement back in the 1970’s and has been committed to it ever since. She understands the principles behind the food movement. She developed The Edible School Yard program, started in Berkeley public schools, which then spread to other school districts across the country. She transformed the way that students eat on campus at Yale University. Alice Waters knows the farmers, knows the chefs, knows the food leaders to make the connections across the nation to bring attention to small farms and small ranches. She knows foreign leaders who care about food (she showed Prince Charles and Camilla around Berkeley public school gardens two years ago). She is the vice president of Slow Food International. And Alice Waters knows the Obamas (well, at least Michele). Michele Obama showed Alice Waters around Chicago’s Green City Market last year preceding a talk she gave here on public school gardens.
All the cards are in place, so I am crossing my fingers. To change the way Americans think about food does not have to be an all-or-nothing deal. I am not saying that we should wake up tomorrow and never eat a candy bar or Easy Mac again. Processed food will never go away. However, Americans still have one of the unhealthiest relationships to food compared to the vast majority of other “Western” industrialized countries. Small changes and a good example could go a long way to improving the way that we think about food. Or maybe I should say that small changes and a good example could get us to think more about food in the first place, which is all I am really asking for at the moment.
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