CAPITAL CULTURE: White House chefs serve up message of good nutrition via TV

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CAPITAL CULTURE: White House chefs embrace fame

Politics are always at a boil in Washington, but until recently the people stirring the pots inside the White House kitchen didn’t get much attention. That’s changed, with chefs stepping out of the shadows and on to TV.

Just this year, White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford competed on Food Network’s “Iron Chef,” teamed with celebrity chef Bobby Flay (they won). Comerford and Bill Yosses, White House executive pastry chef, chatted with Martha Stewart for a President’s Day food segment. Meanwhile, Sam Kass, assistant White House chef, has been a guest judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” while Kass and Comerford hosted contestants from NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” last November.

And did we mention Yosses has a new book out?

One factor behind the heightened visibility of White House cooks is a first family enthusiastic about eating well — Michelle Obama has developed the “Let’s Move” campaign aimed at tackling childhood obesity among other things. Meanwhile, Americans in general have become more tuned in to what’s on their plates.

“Finally, the country’s having a national dialogue about food,” said Andrew Knowlton, restaurant editor at Bon Appetit magazine. “Not just restaurants and where to go, but about where our food comes from. Is the organic garden on the White House lawn going to revolutionize American agriculture? No. But people who might not have paid attention to that kind of stuff before are now noticing that and the media’s covering it and that can only be a good thing.”

When it comes to eating right, chefs — including those who work at the White House — make good ambassadors.

“They can help forward Michelle Obama’s message about healthy eating, and who better to hear it from than a chef?” said Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief at Food & Wine magazine.

At the White House, Jocelyn Frye, policy director for Mrs. Obama, called the chefs “wonderful spokespeople for the first lady’s Let’s Move! childhood obesity campaign.

“They have tremendous enthusiasm for the issue and many of them were involved in healthy eating initiatives personally prior to our work,” Frye said in an e-mail. “Now that Let’s Move! has launched, they’re engaged in a more public way and they help us reach more communities in unique and different ways.”

Having the chefs appear on popular programs such as “Biggest Loser” and “Iron Chef” means being able to reach a broad and diverse audience, added Semonti Stephens, deputy press secretary for the first lady.

It wasn’t always that way.

During his tenure, Walter Scheib, who cooked for the Clintons and both Bushes, jokingly referred to himself as the “most famous anonymous cook in the country.”

He sees the change as having “everything to do with what Mrs. Obama is doing in terms of promoting this admirable agenda she has.”

Previous first ladies also were interested in food, he noted. Hillary Clinton advocated for more fruits and vegetables on the table; and Laura Bush wanted organic produce and products used whenever possible.

Chefs may be more visible now, but the White House kitchen still isn’t about personal star power, said Scheib.

At high-profile state dinners, guests are more likely to remember famous diners they met than the menu, he said. And the White House isn’t a hotel or a restaurant; it’s about day-to-day family cooking. “I’ll submit that how you cook the first lady’s oatmeal in the morning has got more to do with how long you’ll stay,” he said.

In their appearances, White House chefs have stayed on message. “Biggest Loser” contestants got a tasty salad from the White House garden. And for the “Iron Chef” appearance in January, Mrs. Obama unveiled the “secret ingredient” (a staple of the cooking competition) to be anything from that same garden. Comerford and Flay beat chefs Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse with a vegetable-intensive menu that included a sweet potato dessert.

For his appearance on “Top Chef,” Kass helped assess how well contestants did at preparing nutritious and appealing school lunches.

The White House also has enlisted outside chefs to the cause.

In June, more than 500 chefs gathered on the South Lawn of the White House to get involved in the Let’s Move campaign by joining the Chefs Move to Schools program, run through the USDA.

Chefs in the program adopt a school in their community and work with teachers, parents and school officials to improve nutrition.

Whether Americans will actually eat better is hard to say, but getting chefs involved around the country is a positive move, said Cowin. “There’s nothing like feeling good about something you’re doing because you’ve got support from the leader of the Free World,” she said.

Online:

Let’s Move campaign: www.letsmove.gov/

Walter Scheib: www.theamericanchef.com/about.asp

Comerford on “Iron Chef”: www.foodnetwork.com/videos/super-chefs-at-the-white-house/46902.html