Barack Obama will have a new challenge to his fitness regimen thrust upon him as soon as he moves into the White House: 24-hour chefs at his service.
And with the stresses of Obama’s job already mounting, the kitchen staff could find their workload up, too.
For President Bill Clinton, it was strawberry cake, said longtime White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier. Mesnier was hired by Rosalynn Carter in 1979, and retired in 2004.
“President Clinton was allergic to flour, dairy and chocolate — but he loved dessert!” Mesnier said, throwing up his hands. So the chef created an allergen-free strawberry cake that Clinton guarded with all his presidential power.
Mexican food was a late-night Clinton favorite, too, the Frenchman said. And a family meal of leftovers on Friday, every weekend.
For all of President Carter’s Southern sensibilities, the chef said, the family’s tastes followed standard American fare. “And one more thing — President Carter didn’t like peanuts.”
The culinary temptations won’t stop at the president-elect. His daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, will have the kitchen opened to their experimental fancies.
Amy Carter, the last young child in the White House, used to come home from school and ask for ingredients to be set out to make sugar cookies, Mesnier said.
“Then she’d put them in the oven and run off and roller skate, and the next thing I knew the Secret Service would be asking me what I was burning,” he said.
So Mesnier would clean the remains, bake a new batch of sugar cookies and send Amy off to school the next day with a fresh bag of “her” homemade treats.
Though he declines predictions, Mesnier said the first family’s first meals may not do much to test the chefs’ capabilities.
“They say the daughters love ice cream — show me a young child who doesn’t love ice cream!” he said. “They say Mr. Obama loves chili — 90 percent of Americans love chili!”
So one of the Obamas’ first tasks as a family will be to “discover” the potential of the White House kitchen, he said, at the same time the chefs discern the family’s tastes.
“You must understand,” Mesnier said, “when the first family comes, it’s a very tricky time for the chefs.”
