While in D.C. recently for the annual Association of Food Journalists conference, I got to visit Michelle Obama’s garden, a riot of vegetables, herbs and fruit trees just a stone’s throw from the West Wing. My colleagues and I were guided by White House Pastry Chef, Bill Yosses, who was joined by head White House chef, Cris Comerford.
In
what’s formally known as the White House Kitchen Garden, we found zucchini, peppers and
pumpkins, robust and plentiful at this time of year, along with colorful scarlet
runner beans and a climbing cherry tomato vine from which we were allowed to
pluck the delicious tiny tomatoes.
The
garden, which was planted in the spring of 2009, is also home to peas and
radishes (in springtime), artichokes, chile peppers, and an impressive collection
of herbs, including a giant patch of lemon verbena, Yosses’ favorite. (The
affable chef explained that he likes to poach peaches in verbena-infused
poaching liquid and top them with vanilla ice cream, calling it “the perfect
dessert!”)
A small section of the garden is devoted to seeds from Thomas Jefferson’s garden at Monticello. The third president’s favorites flourish here: Brussels sprouts, Brown Dutch lettuce, Prickly-seeded Spinach, and sea kale which Jefferson is said to have discovered along the coasts of England and Ireland. Comerford told the gathered group that she had cooked the last of this season’s kale the week before, “slow-braised with lots of aromatics.”
(We werelucky to tour the garden on a picture-perfect early autumn day. The White House has never looked “whiter” or more impressive.)
Though the garden is not officially organic, Yosses explained that organic gardening practices are used. The garden is under the supervision of the National Park Service, but is also tended every Tuesday and Thursday by volunteer government workers from the neighboring Executive Office Building.
While Comerford described discreetly how she uses the bounty of the garden in preparing the Obama family's meals each day, Yosses talked about the First Lady’s goals in nurturing the garden. Her top priority is to get children interested in learning how food grows and how fresh foods are good for them. She also seeks to persuade Americans to eat more produce. Mrs. Obama was recently quoted, describing the White House Kitchen Garden as "one of the greatest things I've done in my life so far."
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