Obama won't change White House chef. Phil. Daily Inquirer, 11 Jan. 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The White House is sure to get a makeover when the family of incoming US President Barack Obama arrives, but one thing won’t change: the White House chef.
Cristeta Comerford, who made the annals of gastronomical history when she became the first woman—also the first minority and first Filipino-American—to head the White House kitchen, will cook for the Obamas, after they decided to keep her busy at the presidential furnaces.
“Cristeta Comerford brings such incredible talent to the White House operation and came very highly regarded from the [President George W.] Bush family,” said Michelle Obama, who moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with her husband and two daughters on Jan. 20.
“I look forward to working with her in the years to come,” she added in a statement released by the Obama transition team.
Michelle Obama said she appreciated Comerford’s “shared perspective on the importance of healthy eating and healthy families.”
Comerford, who was born Cristeta Gomez Pasia in the Philippines in 1962 and later became a naturalized US citizen, was promoted by First Lady Laura Bush in August 2005 after the departure of chef Walter Scheib a few months earlier. By then Comerford had worked in the White House kitchen for 10 years.
“Her passion for cooking can be tasted in every bite of her delicious creations,” Laura Bush said at the time.
Comerford, who was working as one of two deputies under Scheib, was chosen by Laura Bush from hundreds of applicants after Scheib left in 2005 reportedly because he could not adapt to the culinary demands of the First Lady.
Scheib, who specializes in American cuisine and was executive chef for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said at the time that Comerford was a “wonderful choice,” adding that she was a great cook with an artistic eye and calm demeanor.
Food tech at UP
Comerford, known as “Cris,” is the 10th of 11 children of an elementary assistant school principal father and a homemaker mother. She studied at the Padre Gomez Elementary School in Sta. Cruz, Manila , and finished her secondary education at the Manila Science High School .
Comerford majored in food technology at the University of the Philippines before emigrating to the US in the 1980s with her parents. She originally studied French cooking and later specialized in ethnic and American cuisine. She began her career working at Le Ciel restaurant in Vienna before heading to the kitchens of two Washington restaurants. She joined the White House as assistant chef in 1995.
In 2006, at the Asia-Pacific Leaders’ Summit in Hanoi , George W. Bush jokingly told President Macapagal-Arroyo that relations between the Philippines and the US had become even better with a Filipino-American cook in the White House.
Bush also pointed to his paunch as being the result of the food at the White House being “very, very good”.
Feeding the President
When Obama was elected President in November, Scheib predicted that there was a “90 percent” chance that the new administration would stick with Comerford. Neither Scheib nor Roland Mesnier, who retired in 2004 after 25 years as White House executive pastry chef, believed that Comerford would be replaced.
The head chef at the White House earns $80,000 to $100,000 a year creating menus for state dinners, holiday functions, receptions and official luncheons hosted by the US President and First Lady.
But although the gala affairs are organizational challenges, Scheib says the greater challenge comes on the personal side—feeding the President, his family and guests.
According to Scheib, the job is about “serving the first family, first, last and in every way. That’s the only job.”
High marks
A White House chef’s sensitivity and understanding is just as important as culinary skills, given that the chef is among the few people who interact with the First Family in private, Scheib and Mesnier say.
Both men give Comerford high marks in that regard. AFP, AP