Ethics

Obama's Key Appointment: White House Chef

By Ed Brayton

The NY Daily News has an article speculating on the identity of one of Barack Obama's most important appointments: White House executive chef. The article says that Obama is very health conscious about his food, in contrast to Bush's love of BLTs and BBQ, and there are three main chefs in the running: Art Smith, Rick Bayless and Daniel Young.

Art Smith and Rick Bayless are both well known chefs. Smith is Oprah Winfrey's personal chef and has been for a long time. He's a big advocate of organic food and the locavore movement, which focuses on building meals and menus around fresh seasonal ingredients grown locally. He owns Table 52 in Chicago. The upside of naming him chef: fewer religious right types at White House dinners because they wouldn't want a gay chef cooking for them.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on November 16, 2008 (boomark / email).