Top
chefs push Obama to improve food policy
By
MARY CLARE JALONICK
|
AP)
Chef Joan Nathan, right and Alice Waters, left, the executive
chef and owner of Chez Panisse in... |
WASHINGTON
(AP) - Visiting one of his favorite Chicago restaurants in November,
Barack Obama was asked by an excited waitress if he wanted the
restaurant's special margarita made with the finest ingredients,
straight up and shaken at the table.
"You know that's the way I roll," Obama replied jokingly.
Rick
Bayless, the chef of that restaurant, Topolobampo, says Obama's
comfortable demeanor at the table - slumped contentedly in his
chair, clearly there to enjoy himself - bodes well for the nation's
food policy. While former President George W. Bush rarely visited
restaurants and didn't often talk about what he ate, Obama dines
out frequently and enjoys exploring different foods.
"He's
the kind of diner who wants to taste all sorts of things,"
Bayless says. "What I'm hoping is that he's going to recognize
that we need to do what we can in our country to encourage real
food for everyone."
Phrases
like "real food" and "farm-to-table" may
sound like elitist jargon tossed around at upscale restaurants.
But the country's top chefs, several of whom traveled to Washington
for Obama's inauguration this week, hope that Obama's flair
for good food will encourage people to expand their horizons
when it comes to what they eat.
These chefs tout locally grown, environmentally friendly and
- most importantly - nutritious food. They urge diners, even
those who may never be able to afford to eat at their restaurants,
to grow their own vegetables, shop at farmer's markets and pay
attention to where their food comes from.
Dan
Barber, chef at New York's popular Blue Hill restaurant and
a frequent critic of the country's food policy, says a few small
gestures from the president and first lady Michelle Obama could
accomplish what many of the chefs have been working toward for
years.
"I
recognize that I'm an elitist guy," says Barber, who cooked
a $500-a-plate meal for incoming Obama aides and other guests
at a small charity fundraiser the night before the inauguration.
"Increasingly raise awareness, but don't do it through
chefs like me. ... My advice would be more of a symbolic nature,
and to not underestimate what can be done through the White
House."
Barber
said good food needs more publicity, and he hopes Obama and
his wife will advertise what they are eating and what they are
feeding their children, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha.
|
(AP)
Award-winning chef Scott Peacock from Watershed Restaurant
in Decatur, Ga., picks up collards at a... |
Many
high-end chefs like Barber believe that most food in the United
States is over-processed, over-subsidized and grown with no
regard to the environment, making it harder for small farms
to make a profit selling more natural, nutritious food.
Barber cooks with food grown at his farm, the Stone Barns Center
for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, N.Y. At the pre-inauguration
fundraiser, organized along with several other dinners by food
guru Alice Waters, passed hors d'oeuvres included carrots, lettuce
and cauliflower - untarnished and raw, delicious in their natural
form. Sweet beets had been recently chiseled from Stone Barns'
frozen ground, and hog snouts left over from slaughter were
used as a garnish on a plate of Maine sea scallops.
Most
of the chefs say they realize food policy and government support
for larger corporate farms won't change any time soon. Congress,
with Obama's support, overwhelmingly enacted a $290 billion
farm bill last year that directs many subsidies to the largest
agricultural players.
But
Obama has already given chefs like Barber a small reason to
hope. At his confirmation hearing, Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack made an overture to the growing number of food groups
and experts who have criticized government subsidies for large
corporate farms, saying he will seek to work "with those
who seek programs and practices that lead to more nutritious
food produced in a sustainable way."
"There's
a lot of work that can be done in this area," Vilsack said
after he was sworn in.
Other
chefs in town for the inauguration and Waters' dinners had many
suggestions to improve food policy. Daniel Boulud, the veteran
New York chef of the restaurant Daniel who has cooked for at
least five former presidents, said he thinks the Department
of Agriculture should form an agency that exclusively oversees
small farms. Lidia Bastianich, a New York-based Italian chef
who has starred in several cooking shows on public television,
says the government needs to encourage regulations and incentives
to small farmers to give them the opportunity to compete against
the "big giants."
Chef
Tom Colicchio, the lead judge on the popular cable television
series "Top Chef," agrees. He says foods that are
genetically engineered should be labeled as such and fewer subsidies
should go to corporate farms.
But
despite loftier goals, Bayless, the Chicago chef, says the Obamas
could make a world of difference if they just publish what they
are eating every day.
"Everyone's going to want to be like the Obamas,"
he said.