White House chef says Obamas eat seasonal

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.

Cooking with kids is the subject of a new Prevention Magazine initiative that encourages parents to bring kids into the kitchen. Michelle Obama taped a message for the magazine's website endorsing the effort and Comerford shared a vegetable pizza recipe as an example of a fun meal to cook with children.

Comerford says her daughter is fascinated by the home garden, where she can clip her own herbs in the summer instead of going to the grocery store.

"She'll say, 'Mom, I don't think you have enough broccoli on your plate,'" Comerford said.

The White House's new focus on gardening and seasonal cooking has been especially pronounced during the last couple of winters, when most people go to the grocery store and choose from imported vegetables from warmer climates.

The South Lawn garden has hoop houses — open, plastic, dome-like structures — that capture the sun and act like greenhouses during the colder months. Comerford said her staff is able to serve "good hearty spinaches," collard greens, kale and other vegetables fresh during the winter.

The availability of so many seasonal vegetables out back has shifted the focus of many White House meals.

"It's really garden-driven more than anything," she said. "The vegetable doesn't just become a companion anymore. The protein is a star, but the vegetable is the star as well."