The b
ig slate of activities centered around food and gardening at today's 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll is unprecedented in the history of the event, a White House tradition that dates back to 1878. But it's in keeping with First Lady Michelle Obama's year-long focus on raising awareness about food and health. And the First Lady, as official hostess, is welcoming all foodie stakeholders to the event: Marshmallow Peeps and Hershey's chocolates are sharing the stage with with local, organic fruits and vegetables.This year's theme, Ready, Set, Go!, coordinates with Mrs. Obama's Let's Move! initiative, and just like that project, the Roll activities are simultaneously traditional and cutting edge. It's also the most recycling friendly and sustainability-aware White House event to date. Below, a report on the foodie fun--and the celeb chefs--that the expected 30,000 White House guests will experience. The rest of the event line-up, and list of special guests is here.
Play With Your (organic) Food...then compost it
In a White House f
irst, the 2009 Easter Egg Roll featured a Kids Kitchen, an outdoor cooking pavilion in which White House chefs and guest chefs demonstrated healthy, family-friendly recipes. It was a big hit with the crowds, and this year's version is even more elaborate. The Play With Your Food activity station will again feature the White House kitchen team, led by Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, as well as seven world class guest chefs demonstrating recipes. New for this year: The White House has announced that most of the fruits and vegetables used in the recipe demos will be organic. (Above: Chef Comerford, right, at the 2009 Roll, putting a chef's hat on a child visitor to the Kids Kitchen)There will also be a Family Farmer’s Market, complete with fruit and vegetable stands under white-topped tents, and a Make Your Own Garden activity. Using the White House Kitchen Garden as the inspiration, children will plant seedling cups, so they can take their own gardens home. In another White House first, food scraps from the cooking station will be composted in the White House's own biocycler, which is used to make compost for the Kitchen Garden (read more about the biocycler here).
The Celeb Chefs...
Three of the guest chefs for Play With Your Food are particularly notable. Chef Nora Pouillon is a pioneer in the farm to table movement, and her self-monikered eatery, Restaurant Nora, located in DC, was the first restaurant in America to be certified organic. She's been one of the leaders in raising awareness in the mainstream about the benefits of local, sustainable and organic foods, through her advocacy and cookbook. Nora's, by the way, is the restaurant President Obama chose to surprise Mrs. Obama with a special birthday dinner in January.
Guest chef Jos
é Andrés is world renowned, and credited with bringing the small plates concept from Spain to America. His cookbooks are bestsellers, and his PBS series, Made in Spain, turned him into a household name. A James Beard Foundation award winner in 2003, and a nominee for the 2010 awards, he has five restaurants in the DC area, and one in Los Angeles. Andrés focuses on local, sustainable and organic sourcing, even going so far as to get area farmers to grow the special ingredients he uses for his traditional dishes. Andrés has a big interest in nutrition education for kids, and has visited DC schools with Mrs. Obama's Food Initiative Coordinator, Sam Kass. Most recently at the White House, he cooked a private lunch for President Obama and King Juan Carlos I of Spain. Andrés was one of the guest chefs at the 2009 Easter Egg Roll, and had his daughter cooking beside him in the kitchen pavilion. He'll be teaching at Harvard next Fall. (Above: Andrés in the Kids Kitchen at the 2009 Roll)Chef Art Smith is another renowned chef who will be playing with food, as well as a vet of the 2009 Kids Kitchen. Smith owns Table Fifty-Two in Chicago, and Art & Soul in DC, both of which feature modern takes on Southern American cuisine. He's a celeb cookbook author, and also known for being Oprah Winfrey's personal chef. Smith focuses on local and sustainable sourcing, and his Common Threads foundation teaches under privileged kids about nutrition education and cooking. For his fiftieth birthday last month, Oprah gave Smith a $25o,000 gift so he can incorporate Let's Move! initiatives into his own foundation work. President and Mrs. Obama dined at Table fifty-Two in Chicago for their first presidential Valentine's Day in 2009, and he's been seen at the White House even when he's not officially cooking.
The other guest chefs for Play With Your Food are rising stars from the tri-state region around DC, and include Chefs Cliff Wharton, Robert Wiedmaier, Susan Limb, and Victor Albisu.
An Eggstravagant focus on a certain kind of farmer...
Easter is always a special holiday for the chicken farmers of America, and of course they get a huge nod at the Easter Egg Roll. 19,000 hard boiled eggs will be used, for everything from the traditional eggrolling--a race done with wooden spoons and eggs--to the annual Egg Hunt. There's also an Eggspress Yourself arts and crafts station, where children can dye eggs and make “Medals of Eggsellence,” to spend the day looking like the Olympians who are visiting the White House to promote physical fitness (speedskating star Apolo Ohno is among these notables). Thousands of the eggs were prepped by DC Central Kitchen, a local nonprofit that teaches culinary skills to help at-risk populations and ex-convicts re-integrate into society. In yet another White House first, the Egg Hunt will feature "chirping eggs" for visually impaired visitors. Where are these 19,000 eggs from? The White House has not revealed whether the eggs are from small farmers or factory farmed. And yes, your intrepid blogger has asked.
The kids' Treat Bags...with sustainable souvenirs
With all the focus on sustainable and organic that's going on, the White House was careful to note in guidance to media that the traditional sugary sweetness of Easter is not being overlooked, either. Here's the quote from the official 50 Facts About the White House Easter Egg Roll: "Don’t worry, sweets are still a part of the Easter Egg Roll."That's where the marshmallow Peeps and Hershey's chocolates come in: These will be included in the treat bags that are given to all the kids who attend. It's in keeping with Mrs. Obama's position as a staunch Defender of Twinkies. No foods are off limits; the less healthy ones simply need to be enjoyed in moderation. But there's also a brochure on healthy eating in the treat bags, which are made of 100% recycled plastic. And the Official Souvenir Wooden Eggs that are included in the treat bags are made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) - certified US hardwoods, and colored with vegetable dye. 135,000 wooden eggs were produced for this year’s event. They feature the Roll logo, and President Obama and Mrs. Obama's stamped signature. These are also available for purchase at www.easter.nationalparks.org, where they're packaged in recyclable and sustainable materials. Of course. There will also be recycling stations all over the South Lawn and the Ellipse. (Souvenir eggs, above)
Who's going rolling...
Kids under twelve and their families from around the US will be showing up; ticket lottery winners come from all fifty states. Tickets for the Roll were also provided to 3,000 DC, Maryland and Virginia elementary school students, and 4,000 kids from military families. One notable group: 30 students and eight faculty members from Pecan Park Elementary School in Jackson, Mississippi will also attend the Roll. Mrs. Obama visited the school on March 3, when she brought Let's Move! to the state capitol, and was joined by Governor Haley Barbour and First Lady Marsha Barbour to talk child obesity initiatives. The school features a walking trail and incorporates fitness education into the curriculum.
*All the details on the non-food activities at the Easter Egg Roll--including the A-list talent who will be reading stories and performing in the Rock N' Egg Roll Stage--are here. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, the cast of Glee, tennis legend Billie Jean King, and NFL superstars are some of the notables. The event will be livestreamed at www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll. A full schedule will be posted here on the morning of April 5th. 50 Facts About The Easter Egg Roll is here.
*Photos by Obama Foodorama
