Dr. Rajiv Shah Sworn In As Director of USAID

In a ceremony at the State Department this morning, Dr. Rajiv Shah was sworn in as the new director of the United States Agency for International Development, by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Shah was confirmed on Christmas Eve, and is now in charge of USAID's vast mission to combat global hunger, as well as a multi-billion dollar budget.

Executive Chef Cris Comerford On Iron Chefs And Healthy Eating

On January 9, 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama announced that White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford would continue in her position as Top Toque after the inauguration. Since then, it's been an incredibly busy year of food activity at the White House. In her first official White House blog post, Chef Comerford describes the inspiration she's gotten from Mrs. Obama, and explains why fresh and local foods are important. She also dishes on her experience cooking with chef Bobby Flay, on the White House edition of Iron Chef America.

A New WHO Report On Foodborne Disease Is An Argument In Favor of Local Food Sourcing

Iron Chef America Recipe: Team White House Sweet Potato Pie With Honey Meringue

The recipe for the winning dessert
The Obamas' favorite root vegetable got a lot of attention on the special White House episode of Iron Chef America.

"We're sweet potato lovers," First Lady Michelle Obama told the celeb chefs who visited her Kitchen Garden at the the White House, for their own private harvest festival. Sweet potatoes were duly dug.

Semantics, Animal Style -- UPDATED

Rolling illogic...
If you do eat meat but don't wear fur, are you really fabulous, by PETA standards? No. But that's not stopping the group from using First Lady Michelle Obama in an unauthorized anti-fur ad campaign, which is painted on two vans rolling around DC, and appearing on Metro station banners.

White House Episode of Iron Chef America Is Ratings Rocket For Food Network

FLOTUS Factor Gets 4.6 million viewers fired up
It may not have been the most epic battle in culinary history, as show host Alton Brown kept telling viewers, but the White House episode of Iron Chef America was a history maker for Food Network. The Nielsen Media Research TV ratings for Sunday night, Jan. 3, were just posted, and the combination of First Lady Michelle Obama, her Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, and celeb chefs Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and Emeril Lagasse romping in the White House Kitchen Garden on Sunday's two-hour season premiere set new viewer records for Food Network. (Above: Comerford and Flay, the winning team, with show host Brown)

Sec. Vilsack Gets Advice on Minding His P's & Q's--Er, Peaches and Quinces

Twelve states represented on new USDA produce advisory committee, with California leading the way
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has twenty-five new advisers. Today, he announced the new citizen members of USDA's Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, who will serve a two-year term. It's perfect timing, because fruit and vegetables are getting a lot of much-needed attention these days, thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama's focus on healthier eating, and the joint White House/USDA push for more produce to be included in school lunches and other federal feeding programs.

White House Episode of Iron Chef America: Video Clip of The Judging

Team White House Trumps Team Citizen


Sunday Night's special White House episode of Iron Chef America featured a cameo by First Lady Michelle Obama, welcoming celeb chefs to the White House, and inviting them to harvest from the Kitchen Garden. In the show's Kitchen Stadium competition, Team White House was White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, teamed with celeb chef Bobby Flay. Team Citizen was celeb chefs Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse. Each team had to create five 'ultimate American' dishes that put the spotlight on vegetables, and the video is a good look at most of these. Team White House won the battle. Judges for the cook-off were actress Jane Seymour, Olympic swimming champ Natalie Coughlin, and chef/cookbook author Nigella Lawson. The episode put a swell focus on healthy, local and sustainable foods...although there was a lot of frying and cream sauces used in the ten dishes the chef teams created.
UPDATE, Jan. 13: The issue of the use of Stunt Vegetables is rocking the Internet.

*Video of the judging courtesy of Food Network.

Making The First Lady Proud: White House Chef Comerford, Bobby Flay Win Iron Chef America

The dish on the winning dishes. Can a TV show change America's relationship to food? This one might.
The White House edition of Iron Chef America was a history maker from every angle. First Lady Michelle Obama is the only American first lady to ever appear on a food competition television show, as are the two White House chefs who competed in the Kitchen Stadium.* The fact that the show also encouraged viewers to grow and eat local, sustainable and heritage foods--with White House endorsement--is also entirely historic. It was excellent fun, combined with terrific food, farm, and health messaging as the chefs competed to see who could produce five "ultimate American" dishes that highlighted vegetables that had been grown in Mrs. Obama's Kitchen Garden. In the end, White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford and teammate Bobby Flay bested chefs Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse in a well-fought battle. (Above: Flay and Comerford at the judges' table with Alton Brown, Nigella Lawson and Jane Seymour)

White House Recipes: Kitchen Garden Herb-Roasted Chicken, Cauliflower Gratin

Special recipes created for the White House episode of "Iron Chef America"...

In Hawaii, Obamas Make Shave Ice Run; The President Samples "The Snowbama"

A break from monitoring national security for a dose of Island Snow...
President Obama took daughters Malia and Sasha--and about fifteen guests--out for shave ice today, the special Hawaiian frozen confection that's like a mainland sno-cone, but with ice of a finer grind, and very sweet fruit juice syrup. It was almost a requisite visit: Island Snow, the shave ice venue of choice in the town of Kailua, where the Obamas are vacationing, has named a special treat after the President. Last year, president-elect Obama also visited Island Snow, and his order has been dubbed "The Snowbama." It contains the favorite mix of Presidential flavors: Lemon/lime, cherry and passion-guava.