President Obama traveled to four different countries on a whirlwind tour this last week, and there was a ton of chowbama activity. To kick it all off, the President had ceremonial coffee and dinner with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and he was memorialized on a hopeful cake. In Egypt, the President was a fisherman and gave a historic speech; Germany was very excited and created special spicey Obama mustard as well as Obama foodie homage cakes. Far more harrowing, the President also visited Buchenwald concentration camp, and laid white roses at the crematorium ovens. In France, the last stop on his trip, the President was joined by First Lady Michelle Obama and their girls. The President had a private lunch with President Nicolas Sarkozy, and dined with his own family at La Fontaine de Mars. Even before getting to France, however, the President gave an exclusive interview to Canal Plus, and assured the world that he loves French food and wine. Today is Sasha Obama's birthday, as well as Mother's Day in France. Mrs. Obama and the girls are still in Paris. (Above: First Lady Michelle Obama and French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy both channeled excellent vanilla milkshakes in Paris)
*The White House Kitchen Garden is always bustin' with activity, and has inspired plenty of people. Chef and Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass took a camera crew from NBC for a tour of the White House Kitchen Garden, and the White House posted a different, excellent video of Kass in the garden with Phillies slugger Ryan Howard (in pic). "Oh, snap, son!" is now in the #1 position as the most awesome comment made, to date, regarding garden activity. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack continues to channel Mrs. Obama; he helped plant an edible school garden, and PepsiCo unveiled a new organic garden, in a page taken from Mrs. Obama's gardening book, too.
*Mrs. Obama and former First Lady Nancy Reagan had a private lunch at the White House. Of note in the style blogsphere: Mrs. Obama's "$10 GAP cardi and t-shirt." (Snap!) A recap of Mrs. Reagan's historic White House food extravaganza is here; her executive chef was Henry Haller.*White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford went on the record. She's a national heroine in the Philippines, BTW.
*Many new esoteric secrets of White House folk foodways were discovered.
*A roundup of the blogosphere pushback on a questionable Op Ed that appeared in the NY Times criticizing food activity in the White House is here; today, the Times publishes some letters on the subject. Restaurant critic Frank Bruni seems to still be covering the Bush campaign; his longing for old-school Presidential Food Porn was handily eviscerated.
*Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack made the excellent decision to continue Philadelphia's Universal Feeding Program. But guest blogger Tom Laskawy also questioned why Sec. V still has no-one to head the food safety branch of USDA. A few days later, Sec. V responded that this was due to only interviewing candidates with conflict of interest problems. Ob Fo suggested that it's time to get world-renowned food safety expert Bill Marler over to USDA; Mr. Marler has been on Sec. V's short list for months.
*Friday was National Doughnut Day, and thus: A Brief History of Obama and Doughnuts.*SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor visited Capitol Hill; her food predilections continue to be an object of criticism and fascination.
*First Puppy Bo likes to eat odd stuff, and the exact number of French fries that the President ordered at Five Guys burgers was duly noted.
*Top First Ladies pic via Reuters; Kass & Howard pic via White House; First Lady Obama and Mrs. Reagan by Pete Souza/White house; Obama donut card by Steve Garfield at Flickr.
