WASHINGTON - The White House has fully embraced one of eating's hottest trends - seasonal cooking with ingredients grown at home.
Presidential chef
Cristeta Comerford credits the change in the food coming from the
White House's kitchen to
Michelle Obama's decision in 2009 to start a garden on the South Lawn as part of her Let's Move campaign to encourage kids to eat healthier.
Comerford acknowledges the White House menus now are a lot different from those in the mid-1990s, when she first started working there during the
Clinton administration.
President George W. Bush appointed her executive chef during his second term, and the Obamas kept her on when they arrived.
"The White House kitchen has really evolved tremendously in a positive way, having a garden out there," Comerford said in an interview with
The Associated Press. "It really has focused me on reworking my menu based on seasonality."
Comerford says the garden has also inspired her in her own home, where she planted a plot and she and her 10-year-old daughter, Danielle, cook together. Comerford herself lost 15 pounds last year. ...
