Being President of the United States is a stressful job, but there are definitely some perks, including a team of private chefs at the ready at all hours of the day. While it's obviously a decent-paying job, there are some weird rules that you'll have to follow if you're going to be a chef in the White House. First and foremost, you're hired by the President's spouse, so you can be fired at any given time, and you might have to make some truly weird items, if the First Family is so inclined. Let's take a look at some really weird rules White House chefs are forced to follow.
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00:00Most workplaces have their share of weird rules and protocols, but one workplace that
00:05is probably a little stranger than the rest is the White House kitchen.
00:10Let's put on our history helmets and sprint headfirst into the weird orders that White
00:14House chefs must follow.
00:16Throughout the years, many people have said that the president has official food tasters
00:20that check that their chow is safe.
00:23The fact-checking site Snopes declared that the claim is true, and cited many examples
00:28of tasters being employed when the president dines outside of the White House.
00:32Yet on the other hand, a former White House chef named Walter Scheib told The Washingtonian
00:37that this position doesn't formally exist.
00:41While Scheib did say that the food tasters are fictitious, he also admitted that there
00:45are security systems in place that aim to protect the president's meals, saying,
00:49Nothing gets to the president that hasn't fallen under somebody's jurisdiction.
00:54If the president is just grabbing a pretzel randomly at the table, it's been screened.
00:59It does make a lot of sense that every presidential food item gets evaluated.
01:03Nevertheless, it's also a little otherworldly.
01:07Just imagine going into work and legally not being allowed to offer their boss some mints
01:11that they brought in from home.
01:13The White House executive chef is a kitchen staff member with an incredible number of
01:18responsibilities.
01:20As Men's Journal stated,
01:21"[The executive chef is in charge of feeding the president and First Family every day,
01:26catering to official guests at the White House, from prime ministers to the egg-rolling masses,
01:32as well as all private functions for the president and the first lady."
01:36A layperson might imagine that the White House chooses who gets this central gig.
01:40However, that's not the case.
01:42As Miss Magazine reported, that's up to the first lady.
01:46The first lady also has the power to fire an executive chef.
01:49In 2005, The Washington Post reported that Laura Bush had fired the executive chef, who
01:55told The New York Times in a phone interview that it was difficult to satisfy Bush's stylistic
01:59requirements.
02:01It's not unthinkably strange that the first lady hires the executive chef.
02:05After all, they'll probably be eating many of the meals that they serve up.
02:09But it is wild that they can fire an employee at their discretion and at any time.
02:14Working at the White House is cool and everything, but so is a little more job security.
02:19John Mueller, a former White House chef, wrote in his memoir that he served at the pleasure
02:24of the president.
02:25This means that if the president wants to ban a specific food from going into his mouth,
02:30then it'll probably become banned.
02:32The topic is discussed in a C-SPAN program that interviewed former White House chefs.
02:38One of these ex-employees, Pierre Chambrin, states that George H.W. Bush wasn't keen on
02:43some of the vegetables served to him.
02:45He remembers,
02:46"...I served him some Brussels sprouts, and he told the butler, tell Pierre never to serve
02:51that to me again."
02:53Bush also apparently hated broccoli, but he didn't ban it from the White House.
02:58He just didn't want to eat it himself.
03:00Big break for broccoli fans in the Bush family.
03:02While it makes sense that this etiquette exists, it's also a tad hilarious.
03:07Just imagine a restaurant patron finding a waiter, asking them to tell the head chef
03:11not to ever give them tomatoes for the next four years.
03:14Oh, and the patron happens to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world.
03:18A White House chef can't mute their mobile as they gently drift off to sleep.
03:23Well, they can, but they may end up in trouble if their employer calls them to come in to
03:27cook.
03:28Yup, when the president's in the building, the kitchen staff are on standby.
03:33Pastry chef Bill Yosses told HuffPost,
03:35"...in theory, we were working 24-7."
03:38However, while the president could technically tell a chef to whip up a 2 a.m. dish, Yosses
03:43was never required to make such a meal during his time there.
03:47It's more than being available to make a midnight snack for a hungry president.
03:51It's about feeding whoever happens to be working.
03:53As Yosses said,
03:54"...there could be a national emergency and the people involved have to get up at 3 a.m.
03:58and handle a crisis."
04:00Walter Scheib also stated that he wasn't frequently asked to cook food at unconventional hours.
04:05He informed Vice,
04:06"...we really didn't do much of the midnight snack thing."
04:10If you were a White House chef, you'd probably think that your responsibilities would essentially
04:14be limited to cooking.
04:16But this assumption would be incorrect.
04:18For instance, the president could even ask you to make them some beer from scratch.
04:23The first president to tell his kitchen staff to brew some beer was Barack Obama.
04:27His White House even released a 2012 video that explains why it was created.
04:31"...the president certainly thought it'd be a good idea to see if we could join the American
04:37people in that time-honored tradition and brew some of our own beer."
04:41The staff adapted their own recipe, and some of the ingredients used are grown right at
04:46the White House.
04:47Even though the kitchen staff seems genuinely enthusiastic about making this product, one
04:51has to wonder if it was in the job description or if anyone considered running out and grabbing
04:56the president a six-pack instead.
04:58The White House doesn't just have an executive chef.
05:01Oh no, it also has a staff member who specializes in pastries.
05:06Susan Morrison, the current executive pastry chef, outlined her responsibilities to O!
05:10the Oprah magazine back in 2016.
05:13She said,
05:14"...most of my day-to-day focus is on desserts for White House events.
05:17I could be creating miniature pastries for a reception on the state floor or serving
05:22sweets for a luncheon in the West Wing.
05:24Our top priority, though, is always the first family."
05:27Morrison has an additional responsibility that's slightly more bizarre in nature but
05:32ever-so-important, building an impressive gingerbread house.
05:35Morrison described the process, saying,
05:37"...I spend all year thinking about the White House gingerbread house, but we don't begin
05:41baking until November.
05:43Then for about four days after Thanksgiving, we work tirelessly to build the house before
05:48moving it to the state dining room where more than 60,000 guests will cycle through."
05:54When Morrison wasn't the only pastry chef who was required to make a sensational gingerbread
05:58house, the HuffPost claimed that a confectionery building is created every year.
06:03It appears that if a person wanted this dessert gig, then they'd have to follow the rules
06:07and bake up an annual sculpture.
06:10White House state dinners sound like the fanciest of affairs.
06:14According to the White House Historical Association, they are put on to honor the head of a government
06:19or a reigning monarch, usually with hundreds of people attending the event as well.
06:23They also appear to be one of the most stressful banquets that a chef could ever cook for.
06:29In 2012, The Blade reported that some past and present White House chefs spoke at a panel
06:34hosted by the Association of Food Journalists.
06:37This discussion illuminated a few intense state dinner rules, like how second portions
06:42are never offered but are available if a guest requests them.
06:46Moreover, the article noted,
06:47"...from the moment the first course is placed on the table to the moment the last course
06:51is served, no more than 55 minutes may elapse, and each course must absolutely be ready to
06:57be served at the proper time.
06:59No delays will be tolerated."
07:01Not only are these requirements sweat-inducing, but they're also oddly specific.
07:06Why 55 minutes instead of an hour?
07:09Makes you wonder who came up with the rules and if their sole purpose was to make a chef's
07:13life stressful.
07:15Every Easter, the White House hosts its annual Egg Roll, and if you're wondering what this
07:19event entails, you're probably not alone.
07:22Luckily, the tradition is broken down in a Food & Wine article, which explains,
07:26"...the White House Egg Roll is an annual race where kids push eggs through the grass
07:31of the White House's lawn with long-handled spoons."
07:35Maybe not complicated, but it still seems fun.
07:37The shindig can additionally feature a classic Easter egg hunt and a bundle of other activities.
07:43The White House's event also features a mind-boggling number of hard-boiled eggs, as the article
07:48states,
07:49"...over 14,000 hard-boiled eggs are hand-dyed for use in the Egg Roll and the hunt."
07:55If it seems a little excessive, take it up with the President, or the Easter Bunny, aka
08:00the President of Easter.
08:02The White House kitchen staff are sometimes required to hard-boil and dye a ton, if not
08:07all, of these eggs.
08:09In 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported that these folks colored 7,200 shelves for the
08:14celebration.
08:16It's a little strange that this facility employs some of the best chefs in the country, and
08:20then has them cook heaps of eggs that will hopefully never be eaten.
08:25When the White House kitchen is cooking for the President, the staff members are probably
08:28looking to give their boss something he wants to eat.
08:32This means that if the President is craving a particular meal, then his staff should be
08:36finding a way to make it, even if it's something somewhat strange.
08:40"...this is the White House, they take the homemade pizza and put it in a box.
08:44They will do the take-out look for you, I mean, it's not just food, it's preparation."
08:49Back in 1969, the Reading Eagle reported that Richard Nixon liked eating cottage cheese
08:55that was covered in ketchup.
08:57The newspaper wrote,
08:58"...Nixon talked about his dish during an appearance at the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition,
09:03and Health.
09:04He says he feels he should eat cottage cheese for diet and health reasons, but he doesn't
09:08like the taste.
09:09So he covers it with ketchup, which he does like."
09:12Ah, Nixon, a man of taste and a picture of health.
09:17In a C-SPAN interview, host Susan Stamberg asked the former White House chefs if they'd
09:22cook this meal for Nixon and what their thoughts were each time he'd order it.
09:26Frank Ruda, who'd worked in the kitchen for 11 years, shrugged his shoulders as if to
09:30say that it doesn't make sense to him, but he'd still make it for the President.
09:34Unusual meals like this one highlight how atypical a White House kitchen job is.
09:39I used to tell Barack, don't say you want something, because then we'll have, like,
09:46thousands of it."
09:48Being an executive chef at the White House is a lot of hard work.
09:52They're planning state dinners, they're potentially working strange hours, and they're cooking
09:56for the President.
09:57However, while these responsibilities seem rather demanding, this position receives no
10:02overtime pay whatsoever.
10:05The New York Times laid out this fact in a story that they published in 2005, saying,
10:10"...the pay, $80,000 to $100,000 a year with no overtime, for what is essentially a private
10:17family chef who occasionally has an opportunity to show off at a state dinner, is well below
10:22what top-level chefs can earn on the outside."
10:24It is truly baffling that White House executive chefs aren't allowed to obtain overtime payments.
10:30The fact that they could be asked to make up a plate at any time and would not be compensated
10:34if they did work extra hours makes their workplace sound astoundingly stingy.
10:40It goes without saying that the United States Secret Service doesn't want the President's
10:44food to incapacitate them in any form, because that chain of events wouldn't be ideal.
10:49But it also appears as if this organization doesn't want to be a hawk in the White House
10:53kitchen.
10:54Therefore, in order to allow the President to eat, they give the chefs a special title
10:58that authorizes them to cook for the President.
11:01Walter Scheib opened up about this, saying,
11:04The clearance that you have when you're working in the White House is called top-secret presidential
11:08proximity."
11:09He went on to detail why the chefs need to go through so many security clearances.
11:15In terms of the few of us that are in the kitchen who have that clearance, if you think
11:18about it, we're not just around outside and next to the President, we're physically inside
11:24of him.
11:25You really couldn't get any more close to that.
11:29Not many chefs in the world can say that they need top-secret presidential proximity clearance
11:34just to make a meal, and probably an even smaller number can go around saying things
11:39like,
11:40We're physically inside the President."
11:41In 2005, The New York Times wrote another piece about the White House culinary world.
11:47It reported that the establishment's assistant chef, Christetta Comerford, would potentially
11:52become their executive chef.
11:54However, while Comerford was up for this position, she couldn't comment on how her employer chose
11:59the person they want for the job.
12:01The publication stated,
12:02"...the candidates have been asked to keep mum about the selection process and they are
12:07aware that the wrong word may remove them from consideration."
12:11According to the story, Comerford took this quite seriously when asked if she could provide
12:15any more details, printing,
12:17"...you know the rules of the house."
12:20After the story was published, Comerford ended up becoming the executive chef.
12:24She also has conducted interviews with Vogue, CNN, and Asia Society discussing her various
12:29responsibilities.
12:30Apparently, once you're hired, you can comment on as much as you want.