Is President-elect Obama a foodie?

[joiei]

Where do the Obama's like to dine around Chicago? This foodie blog, Sky Full of Bacon has started compiling a list of their hangouts.

After seeing “Obama Eats Here” T-shirts on the staff at Hyde Park’s Medici Bakery, I’ve decided to keep a running tally of Obama-approved foods and food establishments, on the theory that it won’t take long for it to be longer than the LTHForum Great Neighborhood Restaurants award list, and to use them plus my Foodar to determine the pressing question of the day: Obama, First Foodie or Mere Expense Account Forkpusher?

[Andrew Fenton]

Well, he's famously (and maybe notoriously) a Whole Foods shopper and arugula eater:

“Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?” the senator said. “I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.”

Does that make him a foodie? Pretty darn close, anyhow...

[RAHiggins1]

Well, he's famously (and maybe notoriously) a Whole Foods shopper and arugula eater:

“Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?” the senator said. “I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.”

Does that make him a foodie? Pretty darn close, anyhow...

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Wow, most politicians stick to milk and bread prices.

[edsel]

The Obamas are regulars at Topolobampo. So I'm voting for "foodie".

[Alex]

Apparently he and Michelle also like Spiaggia. The Chicago Tribune calls it "one of their favorite restaurants." A propos of that, check out tirgoddess's wonderful post. According to this article, he "loved the wood-roasted scallops."

Edited December 9, 2008 by Alex (log)

[Holly Moore]

Wonder if a proponent for "Change" has been to Alinea?

[judiu]

Being in the middle of Walter Scheib's book White House Chef, I was wondering who Michele Obama would hire as chef ? Chef Jeff? Marcus Samuelson? Any guesses?

[maggiethecat]

Being in the middle of Walter Scheib's book White House Chef, I was wondering who Michele Obama would hire as chef ? Chef Jeff? Marcus Samuelson? Any guesses?

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There's some chatter about this question on this topic:click.

Foodie? Maybe -- the Obamas love a nice meal out. But I read somewhere (where, dammit?) that the Prez-elect ate the same dinner every night on the campaign trail: salmon, rice and broccoli. That's discipline.

[justhoward]

I don't know if he is or not, but I sure hope so. He's about to be in a position to bring much needed attention and change to our food system. If anyone is interested in this issue or would like to sign a petition urging our next president to choose a Agriculture Secretary who supports sustainability please check out fooddemocracynow.org (I'm sorry I don't know how to make that a link )

[moosnsqrl]

Amen to that, Howard. I am hopeful that, between the emphasis on fuel conservation, alternative fuels (think we can agree corn isn't the answer yet?), economic recovery and global warming, someone will put 2 and 2 together and figure out that localized, sustainable agriculture will help on all fronts. At least he is appointing people with scientific expertise to DoE . . . dare we hope he'll do same for Ag? Fingers crossed that Monsanto et al. don't get one of their yes men in the mix.

I don't know if he is or not, but I sure hope so.  He's about to be in a position to bring much needed attention and change to our food system.  If anyone is interested in this issue or would like to sign a petition urging our next president to choose a Agriculture Secretary who supports sustainability please check out fooddemocracynow.org (I'm sorry I don't know how to make that a link  )

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[justhoward]

Again, sorry I'm no good at creating links, but I just read on Eater that Alice Waters, Ruth Reichl, and Danny Meyer have written to Obama volunteering to serve as his "kitchen cabinet" and to advise him on White House chef selection, organic gardening, etc. Sounds like he's got some great people talking to him - let's hope he's listening!

[JWest]

Again, sorry I'm no good at creating links, but I just read on Eater that Alice Waters, Ruth Reichl, and Danny Meyer have written to Obama volunteering to serve as his "kitchen cabinet" and to advise him on White House chef selection, organic gardening, etc.  Sounds like he's got some great people talking to him - let's hope he's listening!

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Wow.. that's pretty cool.

[joiei]

Being in the middle of Walter Scheib's book White House Chef, I was wondering who Michele Obama would hire as chef ? Chef Jeff? Marcus Samuelson? Any guesses?

←

There's some chatter about this question on this topic:click.

Foodie? Maybe -- the Obamas love a nice meal out. But I read somewhere (where, dammit?) that the Prez-elect ate the same dinner every night on the campaign trail: salmon, rice and broccoli. That's discipline.

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At least it wasn't a burger and cheese fries.

[joiei]

Again, sorry I'm no good at creating links, but I just read on Eater that Alice Waters, Ruth Reichl, and Danny Meyer have written to Obama volunteering to serve as his "kitchen cabinet" and to advise him on White House chef selection, organic gardening, etc.  Sounds like he's got some great people talking to him - let's hope he's listening!

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Here ya go - from the San Francisco Chronicle -

In the letter, sent the day after the election, Waters wrote passionately: "At this moment you have a unique opportunity to set the tone for the changes we need to make in the way our country feeds itself. The purity and wholesomeness of your campaign can find a parallel in the purity and wholesomeness of the food at America's most visible and symbolic address: the White House."

In a recent Associated Press story on a possible new chef for the incoming president, an Obama spokesperson said it was too early to speculate on the chef job, but several names were trotted out by the writer, including Oprah Winfrey's personal chef Art Smith; Chicago chef Rick Bayless, whose Frontera Grill and Topolobampo are favorites of the Obamas; and even Waters herself.

[Chris Amirault]

Yesterday Nicholas Kristof also gave Obama some free advice in his column for the NY Times:

As Barack Obama ponders whom to pick as agriculture secretary, he should reframe the question. What he needs is actually a bold reformer in a position renamed “secretary of food.”

He references the fooddemocracynow.org website, and Pollan gets in some interesting, if predictable, points. Not sure why Kristol has to diss bacon so stupidly, though:

An industrial farm with 5,000 hogs produces as much waste as a town with 20,000 people. But while the town is required to have a sewage system, the industrial farm isn’t.

“They look profitable because we’re paying for their wastes,” notes Robert P. Martin, executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. “And then there’s the cost of antibiotic resistance to the economy as a whole.”

One study suggests that these large operations receive, in effect, a $24 subsidy for each hog raised. We face an obesity crisis and a budget crisis, and we subsidize bacon?

[RAHiggins1]

Yesterday Nicholas Kristof also gave Obama some free advice in his column for the NY Times:

As Barack Obama ponders whom to pick as agriculture secretary, he should reframe the question. What he needs is actually a bold reformer in a position renamed “secretary of food.”

He references the fooddemocracynow.org website, and Pollan gets in some interesting, if predictable, points. Not sure why Kristol has to diss bacon so stupidly, though:

An industrial farm with 5,000 hogs produces as much waste as a town with 20,000 people. But while the town is required to have a sewage system, the industrial farm isn’t.

“They look profitable because we’re paying for their wastes,” notes Robert P. Martin, executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. “And then there’s the cost of antibiotic resistance to the economy as a whole.”

One study suggests that these large operations receive, in effect, a $24 subsidy for each hog raised. We face an obesity crisis and a budget crisis, and we subsidize bacon?

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I saw a report on a hog farm a few years back where they were collecting the waste and had devised a system by which they contain the waste and use it to produce methane gas as a by product of the farm.

[Naftal]

Hello-Has anyone seen the Dec. 23 New York Times article on this topic?

[Alex]

Hello-Has anyone seen the Dec. 23 New York Times article on this topic?

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Do you mean this one?

Although Mr. Obama has proposed changes in the nation’s farm and rural policies and emphasizes the connection between diet and health, there is nothing to indicate he has a special interest in a radical makeover of the way food is grown and sold.

Still, the dream endures. To advocates who have watched scattered calls for changes in food policy gather political and popular momentum, Mr. Obama looks like their kind of president.

Not only does he seem to possess a more-sophisticated palate than some of his recent predecessors, but he will also take office in an age when organic food is mainstream, cooking competitions are among the top-rated TV shows and books calling for an overhaul in the American food system are best sellers.

Like most political prognostication, it's still the 21st-century version of reading entrails (from humanely raised animals, of course) and tea leaves (fair trade and organic).

[Naftal]

Hello-Has anyone seen the Dec. 23 New York Times article on this topic?

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Do you mean this one?

Although Mr. Obama has proposed changes in the nation’s farm and rural policies and emphasizes the connection between diet and health, there is nothing to indicate he has a special interest in a radical makeover of the way food is grown and sold.

Still, the dream endures. To advocates who have watched scattered calls for changes in food policy gather political and popular momentum, Mr. Obama looks like their kind of president.

Not only does he seem to possess a more-sophisticated palate than some of his recent predecessors, but he will also take office in an age when organic food is mainstream, cooking competitions are among the top-rated TV shows and books calling for an overhaul in the American food system are best sellers.

Like most political prognostication, it's still the 21st-century version of reading entrails (from humanely raised animals, of course) and tea leaves (fair trade and organic).

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Hello-Yes, thank you.This is the piece I meant ,I did not know how to creat a link to the NYT site.

[Alex]

According to this New York Times article, he's a big fan of smoked salt caramels from Fran's Chocolates in Seattle.

I like Dorie Greenspan's comment in the article:

The salty-sweet combination is so natural for Americans that Dorie Greenspan, a baking expert who wrote a cookbook with Mr. Hermé, is surprised that salted caramel had to be imported from France.

“We should be annoyed at ourselves that we didn’t invent it,” she said. “We were close, but we just weren’t ready.”

[nsxtasy]

Later this month, WTTW, the biggest public television station in Chicago, will be broadcasting the "lost" episode from 2001 of the restaurant review program "Check, Please!". Each episode features three reviewers of three restaurants, one chosen by each of them. In this particular episode, which has never aired, President-elect Obama is one of the reviewers, and the restaurants include Dixie Kitchen in Hyde Park, his choice. A more complete story on the upcoming airings is in the Chicago Examiner; click here.

[nr706]

Barak's Check Please appearance is at

[Alex]

More on the subject, from The New York Times

Mr. Obama’s status as a frequent restaurant-goer is some good news for the Washington dining establishment, which has lingered in the shadows of bigger cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

When he was in the Senate, Mr. Obama could regularly be seen at the upscale Bistro Bis on Capitol Hill. On his presidential run, he tended to leave reporters waiting outside for hours while dining at his favorite Chicago restaurants, Spiaggia, a grand Italian place on the city’s Gold Coast, or Topolobampo, one of the Mexican restaurants owned by Rick Bayless.

“They really enjoy sitting around the table exploring the different flavors — they always eat tasting menus,” Mr. Bayless said in an interview. “He’s not one who sort of plunks down and says, ‘I’ll have the beef.’ He asks questions.”

[tcizma]

My friend Alpana Singh tells me that Korbel "champagne" will be served at the reception. The new president will spend his first day in office with a headache.