Kate Coleman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
Amid the flurry of hundreds and thousands of resumes descending
upon the transition team for President-elect Barack Obama is a
letter from Alice Waters of Chez Panisse volunteering her services
- and those of Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl and New York Union Square
restaurateur Danny Meyer - to be the first couple's informal
"kitchen cabinet" on all things culinary, from recommendations for
a new White House chef to overseeing the creation of a sustainable,
organic kitchen garden on the White House lawn.
In the letter, sent the day after the election, Waters wrote
passionately: "At this moment you have a unique opportunity to set
the tone for the changes we need to make in the way our country
feeds itself. The purity and wholesomeness of your campaign can
find a parallel in the purity and wholesomeness of the food at
America's most visible and symbolic address: the White House."
A White House garden.
Waters is not alone in sensing that the newly elected, allegedly
arugula-loving president is the perfect vehicle for national food
reform. His switch to local, organic, seasonal food would lead the
way in fighting America's epidemic of obesity and diabetes stemming
from processed food, chemicals and eating too much from the wrong
end of the food chain. Author Michael Pollan envisions a White
House Victory garden a la Eleanor Roosevelt's, while EattheView.org
pictures a White House and its lawn ripe for planting.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/09/FDDN14IPLM.DTL&type=food