January 8, 2009, 5:04 pm
No Change Brewing in the White House Kitchen
By Rachel L. Swarns
Some prominent foodies have been clamoring for change in the White House
kitchen. But President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have decided
that Cristeta Comerford, the executive chef at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, will
stay put, a transition official said on Thursday.
Ms. Comerford, the first woman to hold the executive chef post, has been in the
job since 2005. And some gourmands have argued that that is long enough. Ruth
Reichl, the editor of Gourmet magazine, sent a letter to Mr. Obama, along with
restaurateurs Alice Waters and Danny Meyer, offering to help him select someone
new for the job. Ms. Reichl said the White House could use a chef who cooks
local and organic foods and picks some of it from the presidential garden.
But a transition official said that First Lady Laura Bush spoke very highly of
Ms. Comerford and that the Obamas, who have two young daughters, also liked the
fact that Ms. Comerford is a mother herself. Mrs. Bush’s office has praised Ms.
Comerford in the past for creating “original dishes with American flavor.”
“They had heard a great deal about her from Mrs. Bush,’’ said the transition
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The Bushs just loved her.
There’s no need for making a change.’’
Ms. Comerford is a naturalized citizen who came to the United States from the
Philippines when she was 23. She has a bachelor’s degree in food technology from
the University of the Philippines and has studied classic French cooking and
worked in Austria. She also worked as chef at two Washington hotels. She joined
the White House as an assistant chef in 1995.
Her predecessor, Walter Scheib III, who was hired by Hillary Clinton when she
was first lady, was fired by Mrs. Bush in 2005. He said at the time that he had
been unable “to satisfy the first lady’s stylistic requirements.’’
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