Beltway pundits may be tracking the latest polls for the presidential election, but there’s another White House pick the food world will be watching. The question on many chefs’ minds right now is: Who will be the next White House executive chef? The job not only requires cooking for POTUS and the first family, but also planning elaborate state dinners and a bit of menu diplomacy to satisfy the tastes of heads of state visiting Washington, DC.
In late July, Cristeta Comerford (White House nickname Cheffie) announced her retirement after almost three decades of service. In White House history, she is the first woman and person of color to serve as White House executive chef. And her departure came with heaps of praise from the food world, including Ina Garten and José Andrés, who was the first to leak the news on X.
In total, Comerford prepared meals for five presidents—from Bill Clinton to Joe Biden—and 54 state dinners. That’s no small feat considering the average state dinner takes about six months to prepare for the multicourse meal. Recently, that included dinners for visiting heads of state from Kenya, Japan, and India working closely with first lady Jill Biden.
“I always say, food is love,” FLOTUS said in a prepared statement to Bon Appétit. “Through her barrier-breaking career, Chef Cris has led her team with warmth and creativity and nourished our souls along the way. With all our hearts, Joe and I are filled with gratitude for her dedication and years of service.”
As chef, she has had to toe the line of menu diplomacy. That includes state dinners which balance American dishes alongside country-specific influences. For French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron's visit in 2022, Comerford and her team created a special French-inspired cheese course, spotlighting an American blue cheese from Rogue Creamery in Oregon.
Comerford’s legacy also includes a renovation of the White House kitchen built more than a century ago. She leaves a rather big toque to fill, leaving many to wonder: Who will be America's next commander-in-chef?
The White House officially says, “no comment,” so let’s stir the pot and speculate on who might be next.
Swing State Chefs
You cannot get to The White House without stumping in a few swing states. We see some obvious choices in battleground states.
Asheville, North Carolina’s Katie Button (Cúrate and La Bodega by Cúrate) has amassed a national following making her one to watch. Last year she accepted an invitation by the White House to prepare the Australia state dinner.
Button also has the ringing endorsement of Joanna and Chip Gaines following her recent Magnolia Network deal. And she’s no stranger to working inside the Beltway. Cúrate’s Spanish-style menu was influenced by her earliest days as a DC chef working for chef José Andrés at Café Atlántico. Will she return to Washington?
We also like the odds for Hai Hai and Hola Arepa’s Christina Nguyen. As 2024 James Beard’s Best Chef Midwest, she brings Minnesota nice to a potential White House chef ticket. Like Comerford, Nguyen has no formal culinary school training. Instead, her dishes are influenced by her family’s Vietnamese heritage and travel throughout Southeast Asia. This lived cooking experience includes bright and bold flavors in dishes like coconut shrimp toast and chicken laab lettuce wraps.
A potential Nguyen candidacy would mean a future first gentleman sous-chef. Her partner Birk Grudem helped open the Hola Arepa food truck in 2011, which eventually turned into a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2014, serving up tasty arepas, yuca fries, and other South American staples.
Incumbent Culinarians
Meanwhile, inside the White House, all eyes are on assistant White House chefs Tommy and Tauryn Carter and executive pastry chef Susan “Susie” Morrison. They are incumbents who have worked alongside Comerford, so naturally they have a Biden bump.
Comerford also hinted that one of her chefs could be promoted to the top post in an interview with The New York Times. If cooking is anything like politics, we must give these chefs the early incumbency edge.
Food & Policy Wonks
It wouldn’t be Washington without a few policy wonks up for consideration. We certainly are taking note of Edward Lee and Sam Kass, both with an impressive record of working with the White House on food and policy issues.
Kass was President Barack Obama’s senior policy advisor for nutrition policy, and executive director of first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign. Not to mention he helped oversee the development of the largest vegetable garden built on the South Lawn as assistant White House chef.
His latest project is a new book, Eat a Little Better—equal parts autobiography, cookbook, and food policy primer. Is this his way of saying he’s running?
We also like the odds for Lee. This well-known celebrity chef brings Brooklyn sensibilities, Kentucky charm, and a DC address thanks to his restaurant Succotash, located blocks from the White House.
Last year Lee was selected as guest chef when President Biden hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a state visit. He worked closely with Comerford on a menu that combined his Korean heritage with Mid-Atlantic dishes, like a Maryland crab cake topped with cabbage, kohlrabi, fennel, cucumber slaw, and a marinated in a vinaigrette of red chili paste gochujang.
Lately Lee’s work has focused on food and restaurant policy. His LEE (Let’s Empower Employment) initiative works to bring more diversity and equality to the restaurant industry and just so happens to be opening a new restaurant, Shia, in DC’s Union Market neighborhood soon—a possible sign of grander White House ambitions? We think so.
Cooking on the Campaign Trail
Already, there is at least one candidate hitting the campaign trail hard. James Beard–award winning author and Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller announced, “It’s ‘thyme’ for the kitchen cooking torch to be passed” to him. His platform includes kitchen table politics like no sugar on grits.
Miller might have executive branch inroads thanks to a previous role as special assistant to President Bill Clinton. He also makes a ringing endorsement for fried fish and spaghetti, a dish which we fully support.