Most workplaces have their share of weird rules and protocols, but one workplace that
is probably a little stranger than the rest is the White House kitchen. Let's put on our
history helmets and sprint headfirst into the weird orders that White House chefs must follow.
Throughout the years, many people have said that the President has official food tasters that
check that their chow is safe. The fact-checking site Snopes declared that the claim is true
and cited many examples of tasters being employed when the President
dines outside of the White House. Yet, on the other hand, a former White House chef
named Walter Scheib told the Washingtonian that this position doesn't formally exist.
While Scheib did say that the food tasters are fictitious, he also admitted that there
are security systems in place that aim to protect the President's meals, saying -
"Nothing gets to the President that hasn't fallen under somebody's jurisdiction. [...] If
the President is just grabbing a pretzel randomly at the table, it's been screened."
It does make a lot of sense that every presidential food item gets evaluated.
Nevertheless, it's also a little other-worldly. Just imagine going into work and legally not
being allowed to offer their boss some mints that they brought in from home.
The White House executive chef is a kitchen
staff member with an incredible number of responsibilities. As Men's Journal stated,
"The executive chef is in charge of feeding the president and First Family every day,
catering to official guests at the White House - from Prime Ministers
to the egg-rolling masses - as well as all private functions for the president and the First Lady."
A layperson might imagine that the White House chooses who gets this central gig.
However, that's not the case. As Ms. Magazine reported, that's up to the First Lady.
The First Lady also has the power to fire an executive chef. In 2005, The Washington
Post reported that Laura Bush had fired the executive chef, who told the New York Times
in a phone interview that it was difficult to satisfy Bush's stylistic requirements.
It's not unthinkably strange that the First Lady hires the executive chef.
After all, they'll probably be eating many of the meals that they serve up.
But it is wild that they can fire an employee at their discretion and at any time. Working at
the White House is cool and everything, but so is a little more job security.
John Moeller, a former White House chef, wrote in his memoir that he served at the pleasure of the
President. This means that if the President wants to ban a specific food from going into his mouth,
then it’ll probably become banned.
This topic is discussed in a C-SPAN program that interviewed former White House chefs.
One of these ex-employees, Pierre Chambrin,
states that George H. W. Bush wasn't keen on some of the vegetables served to him. He remembers,
"I served him some Brussels sprouts.
And he told the butler, 'Tell Pierre never to serve that to me again.'"
Bush also apparently hated broccoli, but he didn't ban it from the White House;
he just didn't want to eat it himself. Big break for broccoli fans in the Bush family.
While it makes sense that this etiquette exists,
it's also a tad hilarious. Just imagine a restaurant patron finding a waiter,
asking them to tell the head chef not to ever give them tomatoes for the next four years.
Oh and the patron happens to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world.
A White House chef can't mute their mobile as they gently drift off to sleep. Well, they can,
but they may end up in trouble if their employer calls them to come in to cook. Yup, when the
President's in the building, the kitchen staff are on standby. Pastry chef Bill Yosses told HuffPost,
"In theory, we were working 24/7."
However, while the President could technically tell a chef to whip up a 2:00 a.m. dish,
Yosses was never required to make such a meal during his time there.
It's more than being available to make a midnight snack for a hungry
president - it's about feeding whoever happens to be working. As Yosses said -
"There could be a national emergency and the
people involved have to get up at 3 a.m. and handle a crisis."
Walter Scheib also stated that he wasn't frequently asked to cook
food at unconventional hours. He informed VICE,
"We really didn't do much of the midnight snack thing."
If you were a White House chef, you'd probably think that your responsibilities would
essentially be limited to cooking. But this assumption would be incorrect. For instance,
the President could even ask you to make them some beer from scratch.
The first President to tell his kitchen staff to brew some beer was Barack Obama.
His White House even released a 2012 video that explains why it was created -
"The President certainly thought it would be a good idea to see if we could
join the American people in that time-honored tradition and brew some of our own beer."
The staff adapted their own recipe and some of the
ingredients used are grown right at the White House.
Even though the kitchen staff seems genuinely enthusiastic about making this product,
one has to wonder if it was in the job description or if anyone
considered running out and grabbing the president a six-pack instead.
The White House doesn't just have an executive chef. Oh no, it also has a
staff member who specializes in pastries. Susan Morrison, the current executive pastry chef,
outlined her responsibilities to O, The Oprah Magazine back in 2016. She said,
"Most of my day-to-day focus is on desserts for White House events.
I could be creating miniature pastries for a reception on the State Floor or serving
sweets for a luncheon in the West Wing. Our top priority, though, is always the first family."
Morrison has an additional responsibility that's slightly more bizarre in nature but ever so
important - building an impressive gingerbread house. Morrison described the process, saying -
"I spend all year thinking about the White House gingerbread house, but we don't begin baking until
November [...] Then, for about four days after Thanksgiving, we work tirelessly to build the
house before moving it to the State Dining Room, where more than 60,000 guests will cycle through."
And Morrison wasn't the only pastry chef who was required to make a sensational gingerbread house.
The HuffPost claimed that a confectionary building is created every year. It appears that if a person
wanted this dessert gig, then they'd have to follow the rules and bake up an annual sculpture.
White House state dinners sound like the fanciest of affairs. According to The White House
Historical Association, they are put on to honor the head of a government or a reigning monarch,
usually with hundreds of people attending the event as well.
They also appear to be one of the most stressful banquets that a chef could ever cook for.
In 2012, The Blade reported that some past and present White House chefs spoke at a panel hosted
by the Association of Food Journalists. This discussion illuminated a few intense state dinner
rules like how second portions are never offered, but are available if a guest requests them.
Moreover, the article noted,
"From the moment the first course is placed on the table to the moment the last course is served,
no more than 55 minutes may elapse. And each course must absolutely be ready to
be served at the proper time; no delays will be tolerated."
Not only are these requirements sweat-inducing,
but they're also oddly specific. Why 55 minutes instead of an hour? Makes you wonder
who came up with the rules and if their sole purpose was to make a chef's life stressful.
Every Easter, the White House hosts its annual Egg Roll,
and if you're wondering what this event entails, you're probably not alone.
Luckily, the tradition is broken down in a Food & Wine article, which explains,
"The White House Egg Roll is an annual race where kids push
eggs through the grass of the White House's lawn with long-handled spoons."
Maybe not complicated but it still seems fun. This shindig can additionally feature
a classic Easter egg hunt and a bundle of other activities.
The White House's event also features a mind-boggling number
of hard-boiled eggs. As the article states -
"Over 14,000 hard-boiled eggs are hand-dyed for use in the Egg Roll and the hunt."
If it seems a little excessive, take it up with the President - or the Easter Bunny,
AKA the President of Easter. The White House kitchen staff are sometimes required to hard
boil and dye a ton, if not all, of these eggs. In 1998, the Los
Angeles Times reported that these folks colored 7,200 shells for the celebration.
It's a little strange that this facility employs some of the best
chefs in the country - and then has them cook heaps of eggs that will hopefully never be eaten.
When the White House kitchen is cooking for the President,
the staff members are probably looking to give their boss something he wants to eat.
This means that if the President is craving a particular meal,
then his staff should be finding a way to make it - even if it's something somewhat strange.
"This is the white house - They take the homemade pizza and put it in a box.
They will do the takeout look for you, I mean it's not just food it's preparation."
"That's hilarious."
Back in 1969, the Reading Eagle reported that Richard Nixon liked
eating cottage cheese that was covered in ketchup. The newspaper wrote -
"Nixon talked about his dish during an appearance at the White House Conference on Food,
Nutrition and Health. He says he feels he should eat cottage cheese for diet and health reasons,
but doesn't like the taste. So he covers it with ketchup, which he does like."
Ahh Nixon… a man of taste and a picture of health.
In a C-SPAN interview, host Susan Stamberg asked the former White House chefs if they'd
cook this meal for Nixon and what their thoughts were each time he'd order it.
Frank Ruta, who'd worked in the kitchen for 11 years, shrugged his shoulders as
if to say that it doesn't make sense to him but he'd still make it for the President.
Unusual meals like this one highlight how atypical a White House kitchen job is.
"I used to tell Barack 'don't say you want something,
because then we'll have like, thousands of it."
Being an executive chef at the White House is a lot of hard work. They're planning state dinners,
they're potentially working strange hours, and they're cooking for the President. However, while
these responsibilities seem rather demanding, this position receives no overtime pay whatsoever.
The New York Times laid out this fact in a story that they published in 2005, saying
"The pay, $80,000 to $100,000 a year with no overtime, for what is essentially a
private family chef who occasionally has an opportunity to show off at a state dinner,
is well below what top level chefs can earn on the outside."
It is truly baffling that White House executive chefs aren't allowed to obtain overtime payments.
The fact that they could be asked to make up a plate at any time and would
not be compensated if they did work extra hours makes their workplace sound astoundingly stingy.
It goes without saying that The United States Secret Service doesn't want the
President's food to incapacitate them in any form, because that chain of events
wouldn't be ideal. But it also appears as if this organization doesn't want to be a hawk
in the White House kitchen. Therefore, in order to allow the President to eat,
they give the chefs a special title that authorizes them to cook for the President.
Walter Scheib opened up about this, saying -
"The clearance that you have when you're working
in the White House is called Top Secret Presidential Proximity."
He went on to detail why the chefs need to go through so many security clearances -
"In terms of the few of us that are in the kitchen who have that clearance,
if you think about it, we're not just around outside and next to the President;
we're physically inside of him. You really couldn't get any more close to that."
Not many chefs in the world can say that they need "Top Secret
Presidential Proximity" clearance just to make a meal, and probably an even smaller
number can go around saying things like 'we're physically inside the President.'
In 2005, The New York Times wrote another piece about the White House culinary world.
It reported that the establishment's assistant chef Cristeta Comerford would potentially become
their executive chef. However, while Comerford was up for this position,
she couldn't comment on how her employer chooses the person they want for the job.
The publication stated,
"The candidates have been asked to keep mum about the selection process,
and they are aware that the wrong word may remove them from consideration."
According to the story Comerford took this quite
seriously when asked if she could provide any more details, printing -
'You know the rules of the house."
After the story was published Comerford ended up becoming the executive chef.
She also has conducted interviews with Vogue, CNN, and Asia Society discussing her various
responsibilities. Apparently once you're hired, you can comment on as much as you want!
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