Walter Scheib, Former White House Chef: No Such Thing As 'Presidential Food Taster' (VIDEO)
After 11 years at the White House--including 35 and 40 state dinners--former White House Chef Walter Scheib intimately knows what goes into producing the grand event. "A state dinner is a lot more like a Broadway show than it really is a dinner," Scheib told Politico. "There's so many components...there's literally thousands of people from florists to maids to butlers to chefs to military aides to military colorguards." But who makes all things go? "The first ladies are the driving force behind state dinners in terms of style," Scheib said, noting even that what Michelle Obama wears could even influence the menu.
Scheib doesn't have any special knowledge of what will be served but he speculated that there will probably be one Indian-inspired course, and that lemongrass and lentils might make their way into some dishes. He also dispelled the myth that the White House employs a 'Presidential Food Taster.'
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First Posted: 3/18/10 Updated: 5/25/11