He's not the White House executive chef, but Sam Kass' will be an exciting and important voice in America's First Kitchen. As The New York Times reported last week, Kass, a private chef in Chicago who has cooked for the Obama family before, will work alongside Chef Cristeta Comerford, and if past is prologue, he is likely to bring a local food sensibility to the White House.
Kass' work in Chicago through his company Inevitable Table champions local, seasonal produce and sustainably-produced wines from small vineyards. His presence in the White House kitchen may bring the first family one step closer to planting a vegetable garden on their grounds, a dream that Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters has been pitching since the Clintons first took office.
Read the letter Waters wrote to the Obamas in November to get a sense of the White House "victory garden" she has in mind. Waters is the guru of getting institutions to take on vegetable gardening (see Berkeley's Edible Schoolyard project). She is the pioneer that I think houses of worship can follow toward the promised land of growing food for justice, health, and soul nourishment.
And plus, if the White House goes for it, who can be against it?
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