|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Hail to the Chef!
|
|
|
|
cookbook
reviews
white house chef |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
White House Chef
By Walter Scheib and Andrew Friedman
Price: $24.95
Price with Amazon.com: $16.47
You Save: $8.48 (34%)
Reviewed By: Jane Boaz
Click
Here to Buy It Online! |
|
|
|
|
|
Review |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
May
2008
As an avid cook with an addiction
to American politics, I was delighted to receive a copy of White
House Chef, a memoir detailing Walter Scheib’s eleven
years in the White House kitchen. The book arrived, coincidentally
and appropriately, just before Presidents’ Day, and it was a
treat to read it from cover to cover over the extended holiday
weekend.
In White House Chef, Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen,
Walter Scheib and Andrew Friedman describe both the glory and
the misery of managing the culinary expectations of the President,
First Family, White House staff, and even the Washington press
corps. Scheib takes his reader up and down the emotional spectrum
while recounting his successes, surprises, musings, angst, and
disappointments. He deliberately abstains from including rumor
and innuendo that would likely boost his book’s sales, but certainly
cheapen his story. Rather, the book’s style is much like a personal
diary in which both facts and sentiments are disclosed.
Scheib shares experiences unique to a White House chef. He recalls
his experience as a member of a presidential motorcade- a frenzied,
time-of the-essence operation in which any misstep or failure
to act would result in being left behind. He conveys the anxiety
and sorrow of September 11, 2001, and the nerve-racking, desperate
process of evacuating his staff from the White House on that
day. These stories are balanced by an affectionately related
memory of teaching first-daughter Chelsea Clinton how to cook
as she prepared to leave “home” for college.
Challenges encountered as the leader of the White House kitchen,
and the creative remedies the Chef and his staff developed to
resolve them, are included in the text. For example, Chef Scheib
used mobile military equipment and vehicles to pull off a huge
party, and then cleverly obtained the equipment to be used as
a permanent kitchen annex as the diminutive White House kitchen
itself held no potential for expansion. When government approved
White House produce suppliers fell short, Scheib resolved the
problem by planting his own vegetable garden on the roof of
the White House.
For those curious about the White House kitchen, its staff,
and procedures, this is a terrific read. For those who have
indulged in the fantasy of cooking for powerful political leaders
in the world’s most famous house, and by extension, kitchen,
this book is a revealing must-read.
Click here
to see a recipe demo online |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Message
Boards