WASHINGTON (AP) —
Cristeta Comerford
, a longtime White House executive chef who recently retired after nearly three decades of preparing meals for five presidents and their guests, says first families are “just regular people” when they’re at home in the private living areas of the Executive Mansion.
“It’s not what you see on the news,” she told The Associated Press in an interview.
Cooking the initial family dinners fell under Comerford’s extensive list of gastronomic duties. Typically, dishes were initially prepped in the primary kitchen before being completed upstairs in the residential kitchen located on the second level.
At the close of each day, when handling family meals upstairs, they’re simply ordinary folks at home. All they desire is a delicious dinner. They wish to gather around the table with loved ones,” she explained. “Should they have kids, everyone dines together. It’s remarkable how commonplace this sight is on a daily basis, quite unlike what one typically sees reported in the media.
“It’s the different aspect of them that comes into view,” she stated.
Presidents as foodies
After hanging up her apron and chef’s hat in July 2024 following almost two decades as the head chef and nearly three decades with the kitchen staff, Comerford holds the record for being the longest-serving chef at the White House. Throughout her career, which covered multiple presidential administrations, she made significant contributions.
Bill Clinton
,
George W. Bush
,
Barack Obama
,
Donald Trump
and
Joe Biden
.
Each of the five families she served approached food differently, Comerford said at
a recent symposium hosted by the White House Historical Association
On food and wine, she was questioned about whether she would categorize any of the presidents as “true food enthusiasts.”
The Clintons liked healthier meals, Comerford said. Then-first lady
Hillary Clinton
hired the inaugural American executive chef, Walter Scheib, and instructed the kitchen staff to refrain from using heavy sauces and creams.
She said, “I learned so much” about Southwestern cuisine from Bush, the former Texas governor who liked Tex-Mex food. “We made thousands of tamales for Christmas,” she said of the popular Mexican meal of stuffed corn dough wrapped in a corn husk and steamed until cooked.
Comerford got ideas from
the vegetable garden Michelle Obama started
When she was advocating for healthier diets, mainly focusing on kids, she mentioned, “The garden essentially served as the foundation for crafting our menu.”
Trump and first lady
Melania Trump
are “very, very classic eaters,” she said. Mrs. Trump “loved Italian food, so we tend to do the pastas, but light ones.” Comerford didn’t comment on President Trump’s food choices, but he is known to like a well-done steak served with ketchup and
fast food
.
Jill Biden
was the first Italian American first lady, and the kitchen did “a lot of Italian food, as well, because she loved Italian food.”
Overall, “it’s different for each family,” said Comerford, “but my job as the chef is to execute their style, their likes and their preferences.”
54 state dinners
A black-tie
state dinner
It represents the pinnacle of diplomatic recognition that the U.S. grants to its closest allies.
Comerford oversaw 54 of these lavish events, including for
France
and
Australia
During Trump’s initial term, they occasionally invited guest chefs to assist.
State dinners
give presidents the opportunity to bring together hundreds of guests from the worlds of government, politics and other industries for an evening in which the three-course meal, decor and entertainment are designed to help foster relations by dazzling the visiting foreign leader.
The first lady’s staff and the social secretary typically have about two months to pull one together.
Comerford said her team started by researching the visiting leader’s likes and dislikes, then she used the information to create a menu using the best of American food while incorporating nuances from the country being recognized.
She’d develop
Here are at least three distinct menu options:
1. A variety of appetizers including bruschetta, spinach artichoke dip, and chicken wings.
2. Main courses such as grilled salmon, beef tenderloin, and vegetarian lasagna.
3. Dessert selections featuring cheesecake, tiramisu, and chocolate mousse.
Next up were the tastings for the first lady to reach her ultimate choice.
Comerford’s career
Comerford, who is 62 years old, began her culinary journey manning a salad station at an airport hotel in Chicago. She later honed her skills as a chef at eateries in both Austria and Washington. In 1994, Scheib, who was serving as the White House executive chef at the time, brought Comerford aboard temporarily to prepare a state dinner for Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s recently inaugurated leader.
Scheib then hired her as an assistant chef in 1995, and she succeeded him a decade later, becoming the first woman and first person of color to permanently hold the executive chef’s position. Comerford is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the Philippines.
Her husband, John Comerford, is a chef, too, and she credits him with sacrificing his career to be present for their daughter so she could thrive in hers. Their daughter is a pastry chef.
When Comerford retired, assistant chef Tommy Kurpradit, whose parents are from Thailand, was named interim executive chef. Melania Trump, who worked with Comerford in the first Trump administration, has not named a successor.
In what manner did she achieve success as the principal cook at the White House?
Comerford said she managed everything with “a lot of prayers,” often said during her hourlong, early morning drive into the White House, but also by being versatile, humble, able to handle chaos and having faith in herself and her team.
“One thing with cooking at the White House, you don’t just do fine dining meals,” she said. “You have to know how to cook eggs and breakfast. You have to know to cook a smashburger.”
It also helps to remember that the job is about the family.
“There’s no ego in it,” Comerford said.
Asians in White House culinary history
White House culinary history includes chefs from China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand, as far back as the 19th century, according to Adrian Miller and Deborah Chang, co-authors of a new book, “Cooking to the President’s Taste: Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History.”
Most sharpened their skills through service in the U.S. military.
Before Comerford, Pedro Udo, a Filipino trained in the U.S. military, was the first Asian heritage chef to run the White House kitchen after he was promoted from meat chef to head chef in June 1957, according to the book. He prepared meals for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip later that year, and for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in September 1959 during the Cold War.
But his stint ended after less than four years when the new first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, hired acclaimed French chef René Verdon in early 1961.
Miller said the book offers a “unique window” on the presidency.
“We get a look at the presidents, but also the presidents got a look at Asian American life in maybe ways that they hadn’t before,” he told the AP in an interview. “And I think, you know, for the presidents that decided to open that window and find out more about the people who were providing, comforting them through amazing food, I think our nation is better for them.”
Darlene Superville, The Associated Press
