Let's Plant: Potatoes And Politics As First Lady Michelle Obama Preps Kitchen Garden For Spring

On the heels of school lunch battle, the National Potato Council is thrilled that spuds are now growing at the White House; regional TV outlets invited to interview First Lady and her swing-state helpers...
Washington was gloriously sunny on Monday as First Lady Michelle Obama refurbished the White House Kitchen Garden for the fourth time since breaking ground in 2009 for the project she has hailed as "the most important achievement of my life."
For the last Spring planting of President Obama's first term, Mrs. Obama was joined by the largest number of groups--six--that have ever participated at one time in a garden event: 31 kids selected from New York, Iowa, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and the District joined Mrs. Obama as she hit her crop rows in mid-afternoon. (Above: Planting Mustard Greens with helpers)

White House chefs including Executive Chef Cris Comerford, Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass were on hand, as was the First Lady's chief of staff, Tina Tchen.

Mrs. Obama arrived gardenside just after 2:15 PM, striding down from the residence as heavily armed security agents ducked into the surrounding trees and bushes to keep watch. The First Lady, greeted with cheers and applause, was clad in black slacks, a black cardigan, a "vintage" orange J. Crew t-shirt, and blue Superga low-tops, her hair rolled back. Minutes before, the guests had been put through a dress rehearsal for their planting duties by Kass. Clad in a chefs jacket and jeans, he stood to the side, beaming, as Mrs. Obama welcomed all.

"Yay! It's so exciting!" Mrs. Obama said. The garden, she explained, is part of her Let's Move! campaign, and "an important way to have a good conversation about your health."

Although building supermarkets in areas identified as food deserts is a pillar of the Let's Move! campaign, Mrs. Obama expressed little faith in store-bought crops.

"A lot of times when you grow your own vegetables and fruits, they taste really good," Mrs. Obama said. "They taste better than a lot of stuff you’ll get in a grocery store -- trust me."

She kicked off the action simply: "Let's plant!"

Potatoes and controversy...
Cold-season crops were the order for the day, in case of late frost: Before an hour had passed, Mrs. Obama and her crew had installed spinach, lettuces, radish, bok choy, broccoli, chard, rappini, carrots, and onions in the boxed beds in the 1,500 square-foot garden. Mrs. Obama personally planted Mustard Greens--"Southern Giant Curled"--and Dill seed, and five varieties of potatoes, which was something of an historic and controversial moment. (Above: Mrs. Obama slices seed potatoes with helpers)

"These are the first potatoes we've had," Mrs. Obama told her three Girl Scout helpers, who came from Troop 60325 in Fairport, NY. "I can't wait to see what happens."

Mrs. Obama knelt and sliced seed potatoes in half, handing these to the Scouts, who dug them into a boxed bed at the front of the garden, situated directly in front of the huge crowd of media covering the event. The varieties included red Sangre, purple fingerlings from Peru called Purple Sion; Mountain Rose, Red Thumb and Canola Russet. Controversy: Last year, Congress passed a law mandating that servings of white potatoes and other starchy vegetables could not be restricted under the US Department of Agriculture's upgraded nutritional guidelines for the National School Lunch Program, legislation Mrs. Obama vocally championed.

The measure followed an aggressive PR campaign from potato state lawmakers and the National Potato Council (NPC), which included a special website and a petition urging Congress to keep spuds on lunchtrays; USDA wanted to restrict servings to make more room on menus for other vegetables. An East Wing spokesman said the First Lady's potato planting had nothing to do with the controversy, though previously only Sweet Potatoes were grown in the Kitchen Garden. (Above: Bed markers for two kinds of potato varieties)

Still, Mrs. Obama had hardly finished planting when the National Potato Council issued a press release, alerted through social media that their product was front and center in the White House garden: "America's potato growers are excited the first lady is helping educate children that healthy eating includes nutrient-rich potatoes," said NPC Executive Vice President and CEO John Keeling.

For their school lunch campaign, the NPC had made much of Mrs. Obama's declaration that French fries are her favorite food. She'll have heady gourmet fries when the new potatoes come in.

Mrs. Obama and her helpers were of course unaware of any controversy as they continued on with young Mustard Greens, and scattered Dill seed. The First Lady poured the seeds into the kids' hands, and watched as they worked these into the dirt. (Above: With Kass and helpers by a Dill bed)

"If we don't get a ton of dill from that, I'll be surprised," Mrs. Obama said.

She chatted easily with the girls as they worked; ages 10 and 11, they quizzed Mrs. Obama about daughters Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10. Mrs. Obama admitted that getting both to enjoy their vegetables has sometimes been a challenge.

Swing state helpers...and special TV interviews with Mrs. Obama...
Politics were in the air for reasons other than potatoes, too: Some of the invited kids just happen to be from battleground states critical for President Obama's 2012 re-election: Iowa (students from Mitchell Elementary School in Ames); North Carolina (Sumner Elementary in Greensboro); and Pennsylvania (Stetser Elementary in Chester). They were accompanied on their White House visit by local-market TV crews from their home states. (Above: The First Lady pours Dill seed into the hands of a helper)

The Let's Move! campaign, which now has a huge national audience, has been a terrific way to spread President Obama's message about "winning the future," and revitalizing communities. The White House has previously invited local TV stations to visit for "media days" for the President, and the crews on hand for Monday's planting were given the rare opportunity to interview the First Lady. --Rare for local outlets; Mrs. Obama has become an almost weekly staple on the talk show circuit as the 2012 Campaign has ramped up. There's more to come shortly, when she appears in NBC's The Biggest Loser, in scenes filmed at the White House.

Mrs. Obama's second anniversary tour for the campaign in February also included stops in battleground states: She kicked off the tour in Des Moines, Iowa, and had four different events in Florida. The East Wing said the children were invited to the White House because they'd written to the First Lady about their own healthy eating projects, including school gardens.

"You guys wrote some really nice letters telling us about stories of the work that you're doing in your schools, in your communities," Mrs. Obama said as she welcomed the kids.

Junior gardeners from DC's Bancroft and Harriet Tubman Elementary Schools also helped. The two schools have previously supplied students to work in the Kitchen Garden, and Tubman has been adopted by the White House chefs as part of the Chefs Move to Schools program.

An international garden...
The Kitchen garden contains two beds that pay homage to President Thomas Jefferson's kitchen garden at his plantation home of Monticello, located in Albemarle County, VA. Peter J. Hatch (l) the master gardener who oversees it, and who ran the decades-long historic re-build, brought a wide variety of starter plants for the Kitchen Garden, as he has each year since 2009. Hatch and his wife Lou brought Brown Dutch and Tennis Ball lettuce, Sea Kale, Brussels Sprouts, and Caracalla and tree onions. These are also called "walking onions," Hatch said, because bulbs grow at the top and the bottom, and the top bulbs fall over and re-plant themselves in the earth.

"Brown Dutch and Tennis Ball were Jefferson's favorite lettuces," Hatch said. The Sea Kale, he said, is an heirloom British variety, grown in seaside areas, and relatively rare.

"Jefferson harvested it early, and prepared it like asparagus shoots," Hatch said.

With this Spring planting, Mrs. Obama's garden is very international, Hatch added: The five varieties of potatoes are the only crop that originate in the New World, the only vegetables that weren't originally imported from Europe and other continents. Yale University Press has just published Hatch's beautiful new book about Jefferson's garden, A Rich Spot of Earth, and it includes descriptions of his work with Mrs. Obama.

The Kitchen Garden, while not certified organic, does not use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. The soil is "seething with life," Hatch said, rich with earthworms and beneficial insects. A special composter, called a biocycler, sits at the back of the garden, and food scraps from the kitchen are used. (Above: A long view of the planting action)

After forty minutes of planting, Mrs. Obama and her helpers were done. As she gathered the kids for farewells, she autographed the shoulders of their t-shirts before handing out hugs.

Mrs. Obama's forthcoming book about her garden, American Grown, will be published at the end of May. A combination Kitchen Garden memoir and how-to guide, the $30 hardcover will include instructions for all kinds of gardens, from windowsill herb gardens to back-yard plots. Though Mrs. Obama has been encouraging gardening for three years, the White House has never put out its own set of instructions on how citizens can participate. The book will include recipes, too. (The book jacket, above)

CLICK HERE for links to all posts about the event. The transcript of Mrs. Obama's remarks.



*Photos by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama; book jacket photo courtesy of Crown Publishing Group

White House Kitchen Garden, Before & After 2012 Spring Planting

First Lady Michelle Obama replanted the Kitchen Garden for Spring on Monday afternoon, joined by the White House chefs and 31 kids invited from four states and DC. Above: The garden before the planting. Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass is center left. Click on the photo to view it in larger form.

The young plants and seeds that were dug into the planting boxes in the 1,500 square-foot garden included spinach, lettuces, radish, bok choy, broccoli, chard, rappini, carrots, and onions in the boxed beds in the 1,500 square-foot garden.

Mrs. Obama personally planted Mustard Greens, Dill seed, and five varieties of potatoes, including red Sangre, purple fingerlings from Peru called Purple Sion; Mountain Rose, Red Thumb and Canola Russet. Above: The garden after the planting.

*Photos by Obama Foodorama

Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses On The Record: The 2011 White House Gingerbread House

This year's 400-pound showpiece has working lights, four fully furnished rooms, a replica of the Kitchen Garden, First Dog Bo, and a Christmas forest...
Were he alive today, White House architect James Hoban might be stunned to discover that his most famous building is annually re-created in gingerbread for Christmas at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The tradition became a yearly part of holiday celebrations when Roland Mesnier, who ruled the pastry kitchen for more than a quarter of a century, made houses each Christmas during the Carter Administration. Mesnier's houses became more and more elaborate over the ensuing Presidencies, but his successor, Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses, has taken the building project to a whole new level. All five of Yosses' White House Gingerbread Houses have been covered in white chocolate, and the 2011 house is his best and most detailed effort yet.

Every element is edible, with the exception of the working electric lighting that's inside and outside. There are four interior rooms, a model of First Lady Michelle Obama's Kitchen Garden and beehive, First Dog Bo, and a forest of Christmas trees. Displayed on a marble-topped console table in the State Dining Room throughout the holiday season, the house is a showstopper that delights children and adults.

Yosses (l) first came to the White House at the invitation of First Lady Laura Bush for the 2006 holiday season. But he built his first Gingerbread House for Christmas 2007; Mesnier came out of retirement specifically to do the 2006 house, Yosses told Obama Foodorama. "What a relief!" Yosses added; the idea of building such a grand project during his debut months was apparently a bit daunting, even for someone who was already an acclaimed pastry chef, hailed for work that was described as "unfailingly elegant, restrained and imaginative."

Each of Yosses' three houses for President Obama and Mrs. Obama have all been the same view of the South Portico because "it got great feedback," Yosses said.

The pastry master references copies of Hoban's original building sketches as he works. The white chocolate architectural details, such as columns, banisters, and rosettes, are poured in special molds, and are historically accurate. Yosses began his culinary career while living in France, and was mentored by Pierre Herme, the nation's premier pastry chef. It was then that he learned the arts of chocolate decor and sugar blowing. (Above: A view of the left side of the house)

Building the White House Gingerbread House takes months, and Assistant Pastry Chef Susie Morrison acts as "general contractor." The gingerbread was baked in late September, in order to allow it to go stale and become hard. It's more than an inch thick, and so hard a band saw is used to cut the walls and roof, Yosses said. The recipe is the same used for the White House Gingerbread Cookies, but on a far larger scale.

The project is a group effort for White House staff that extends beyond the pastry kitchen. The house is assembled in the China Room, a ground-floor room where presidential china is displayed year-round in lit cabinets (the room is currently being used for the holiday tour, and features a Christmas dinner table set with the Clinton State China).

"We have the electricians do the lighting," Yosses said. The working lights inside and out are environmentally friendly, and glow softly. "Plumbers, carpenters, engineers get in on it, too."

The 2011 house weighs about 400 pounds, and is 41 inches wide and 22 inches deep. Its four furnished rooms are two more than were in the 2010 Gingerbread House, which had shadow-box views of the State Dining Room and the East Room. Those rooms are also in the 2011 house, but so are the Green Room and the Red Room, drawing rooms on the State Floor. All are visible through windows covered with clear-sugar panes. (Above: The State Dining Room and Red Room are visible through the window behind Bo, as are working silver floodlights)

"The Social Office wanted us to develop new rooms, so it was more like a Christmas doll house," Yosses explained.

The 2009 Gingerbread House had only the State Dining Room visible as a shadow box. This year, the interior furnishings, including sofas, tables, and paintings, are made of white and dark chocolate, with marzipan and food coloring for accents. The details are "very time consuming," Yosses said.

"It takes a lot of patience to get shape and proportion right."

Bo is depicted in many incarnations in the 2011 holiday decor, thanks to the fact that "he's the most famous member of the Obama family," according to the First Lady, who selected "Shine, Give, Share," as her theme, designed to honor military families. Yosses dubbed his 2010 marzipan and gum paste rendition of the First Dog "Bozilla" because he was oversized; his head went up to the second story of the house. This year's Bo is Bozilla on steroids: He's even larger, and would be about the size of a Chevy Yukon if he was real.

"If Bo looks a little fluffier, it's because we used royal icing, so he can be shaped more precisely," Yosses said.

Bo is indeed fluffier. In 2009, Bo was far smaller, but his larger-than-life depiction is a metaphor for his importance to the Obama household, Yosses said last year.

The Kitchen Garden and the beehive...
The model of the Kitchen Garden, created with marzipan, sugar and gum paste, shows the South Lawn garden in winter. The beds are in chocolate powder dirt, and are covered with sheets of pastry to replicate the protective hoop houses that cover the real garden so it can grow vegetables year-round. Two other boxed beds, made of chocolate, are "dormant" for the season, and covered with "straw." There's a line of winter lettuces visible, as well as the composter that sits beside the garden. (Above: The garden and the beehive)

Tiny shovels sit in the chocolate dirt, and dark chocolate squares are used for the slate stepping stones in the real garden. The White House beehive has also been replicated.

Yosses routinely uses honey from the beehive for his many desserts. The hive is the first to ever be on the White House grounds, and is depicted complete with tiny bees. The yellow line on the candy beehive is actually a strap that's on the real beehive. It's designed to keep the hive in place so it doesn't blow over when President Obama arrives on the South Lawn in his helicopter, Marine One. (Above: The bees are visible on the beehive)

About thirty pounds of honey was used to make the Gingerbread House, as it was in 2009 and 2010.

The Christmas forest...
The forest of four Christmas trees on each side of the house is a new addition for 2011. The cone-shaped trees are made with white and dark chocolate macaroons and marzipan, as well as molded fruit, and wrapped with sparkling ribbons and dusted with silvery sugar powder.

"Bushes" along each side of the house are created with real Magnolia flowers. These are taken from South Lawn bushes planted from President Andrew Jackson's Magnolia tree that still stands on the White House grounds. Each is dipped in green chocolate, and embellished with red chocolate "flowers." (Above: The Christmas trees and Magnolia bushes on the right side of the house)

While the house is made of edible materials, it is not intended to actually be eaten. All the same, each year, architectural elements have gone missing, Yosses said, either eaten or taken by tour guests as "souvenirs."

"We notice sometimes a few pieces missing like parapets and windowsills and pediments, so we make extras and they can be replaced right away," Yosses said.

More than 85,000 visitors will tour the White House during the holiday season. A few thousand more will attend between 15-18 open houses and receptions that the President and Mrs. Obama will host.

Not the heaviest White House Gingerbread House...
At 400 pounds, the 2011 house is not the heaviest Yosses has created, he said: The open interior spaces for the four rooms reduces the weight. Yosses' heaviest house was built in 2008 for the last Christmas of the Bush presidency; the whopping 475 pounder, for "A Red, White and Blue Christmas," was 350 pounds of gingerbread and 125 pounds of white chocolate. The Bush family pets were in a rooftop sleigh, and an Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, all edible, marched in front. Mrs. Bush dubbed the house "unbelievable" and "beautiful." (Above: A view of the house from the right side)

The White House Gingerbread House is usually sent to the White House Visitors Center after the holidays, where it is put on display so more people can see it. But this year, there's another exhibit, and the final destination for the masterpiece is still undecided. (Above: Yosses, Morrison, and pastry chef Chris Philips assembling last year's house in the China Room)

A video of the 2009 White House Gingerbread House being built:



Yosses, the cookbook author...
Last summer, Yosses published "The Perfect Finish," a collection of recipes from his vast personal repertoire. Co-authored with Melissa Clark, it's loaded with delicious creations that are accompanied by detailed instructions and beautiful photos, and makes a terrific holiday gift. It was the first cookbook published by any White House chef while "still in office." Before he began at the White House, Yosses also published "Desserts for Dummies." Despite its title, it's a very good book, too.

The 2010 White House Gingerbread House:

Check the sidebar of the blog under "Dessert Recipes" for all of Yosses' White House creations that have been publicly released.

The 2009 White House Gingerbread House:

*With additional reporting by Marian Burros.

*Photos by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama. China Room photo from HGTV.

White House Holiday Photo Of The Day

"Serving The Country"
In the State Dining Room, Assistant Pastry Chef Susie Morrison stands in front of a table laden with gingerbread cookies and pastry tubes filled with colored icing, awaiting a mob of excited kids from military families, invited by First Lady Michelle Obama to be the first to view this year's holiday decorations. Morrison and Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses decorated the cookies with the kids; Mrs. Obama stopped by the table to "ooh" and "aaah."

The easy-to-do recipe is here; the cookies can be eaten or used as ornaments, depending on how long they're baked. Check the sidebar for more White House recipes.

*Photo by Edide Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama