White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford is starring in a new video on kids.gov, talking about her job providing meals, snacks and state dinners for the first family.
“Definitely it’s high pressure, because first and foremost, it’s only for the President of the United States,” she says in the video, adding that guests’ dietary restrictions and respect for traditional cuisine are essential to her job. She also talks about how fun and rewarding it can be for kids to learn to cook, encouraging kids to “be hands on, work really hard,” and “help out your mom and dad in the kitchen.”
Comerford — who has always promoted a shared interest in healthy eating with first lady Michelle Obama— began her career at the White House during the Clinton administration and joined the Obama White House on the advice of former first lady Laura Bush.
But this latest spot is a much more laid-back performance than her big “high pressure” role in 2010, when she teamed up with Bobby Flay against chefs Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse for a masters battle using veggies not-quite-picked from the White House Garden. She mentions the garden itself on the video, too, saying, “in the span of like 2 1/2 years, I mean there’s like three hundred at least pounds of produce that we have harvested throughout the years.”
