Incumbent White House Chef Shares Healthy Cuisine with Obama Family
By the All Culinary Schools career research team—Your source for Culinary School news, trends and programs.
When Michelle Obama announced that they would be keeping the White House chef hired by President Bush on staff, the culinary world reacted with more than a little surprise. After all, the Obama family emphasizes healthy food choices as well as the philosophy of eating locally and organically, as demonstrated by Michelle Obama's White House vegetable garden, planted in April.
Once the foodie press took a closer look at the chef, though, they discovered that Filipino-American, Cristeta Pasia-Comerford, has been serving organic food in the White House for years and shares Michelle Obama's love for simple, healthy, garden-fresh meals. Comerford, who was hired in 2005, is not only the first woman to serve as White House Executive Chef, but also the first minority to hold the position.
Comerford attended cooking school in Vienna, Austria, specializing in ethnic and American cuisine. However, working at the White House and using home-grown garden vegetables has proven to be a surprisingly homey and familiar experience for the chef. According to an article in the Associated Press, "picking food from the garden reminds her of summers spent at her grandmother's house in the Philippines' Bulacan province."
This year, Comerford was honored by the Bank of the Philippines as an outstanding Filipino overseas.
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