Food Politics

If the idea of building a basic gingerbread house sounds daunting to you, try building a 300-pound gingerbread replica of the White House. That's exactly what presidential pastry chef Bill Yosses has been busy doing for the past several weeks, as we discovered when we had a chance to tour holiday decorations at the White House.

The 300-pound replica of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — which features reindeer on the roof, an edible vegetable garden, and Bo Obama playing outside the front lawn — was one of the highlights of our tour of the White House and its holiday festivities. Although a similar house is re-created annually, each house varies from year to year, so we spoke to Chef Yosses about how the creative process works, and why this house was different.

YumSugar: When do you begin designing and creating the White House gingerbread house?
Bill Yosses: Mrs. Obama meets with her staff in July and they begin to talk about different proposals, what they would like to have as a theme, and how they would like to see the decorations. At that time, we sent a note up, and asked if we could do something different this year; I proposed this bread that looks like stone. She said, "Yes, let's try it, let's see what happens." We're all happy with how it came out.

YS: So you do a house every Christmas?
BY: We do a house every Christmas. We do different aspects [of the White House]: the north side, the south side. This tradition has been here since 1969 and other houses have been used, but we've kind of settled on the White House and different versions of it. We're celebrating the craftsmanship of those who built the house itself because the stone was quarried not far from here.

Learn more about the miniature White House — including how long it takes to come together! — when you read more.

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First Lady Michelle Obama has been working on her Let's Move! campaign for some time now. Last Friday, June 4, she kicked off a new part of the initiative, the Chefs Move! to Schools program, which encourages chefs to pair with local schools to provide cooking and nutrition advice. Despite the stagnant, 90-degree weather, more than 500 hundred participants, clad in their chef's whites, gathered on the South Lawn of the White House. Among those who attended? Media mogul Rachael Ray, Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio, Iron Chef Cat Cora, nutritionist Ellie Krieger, and chefs Marcus Samuelsson and José Andrés.
“Children consume as many as half of their daily calories at school, and with more than 31 million children participating in the National School Lunch Program and more than 11 million participating in the National School Breakfast Program, good nutrition at school is more important than ever,” Mrs. Obama said in her remarks. “Chefs have tremendous power as leaders on this issue because of their deep knowledge of food and nutrition and their ability to deliver these messages in a fun and delicious way and I want to thank them for joining the Chefs Move to Schools campaign.”

Check out the first lady's (somewhat lengthy) address, and pictures of who was there, after the jump.

On June 4, at the South Lawn of the White House, Michelle Obama will officially launch the new Chefs Move to Schools Program, a call to action for the nation's chefs to partner with local schools, giving cooking and nutrition advice to educators, parents, and kids.

Chefs Move to Schools is a part of the First Lady's larger Let's Move! campaign to fight childhood obesity. The initiative, which Mrs. Obama and Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass announced on May 13, plans to match chefs with nearby schools. Hoping to spread the word, the administration has also employed the help of respected professional organizations such as the IACP and National Restaurant Association.

I was really bowled over by the success of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and believe this similar concept has a lot of promise, especially with its grassroots approach. Are you excited about the new program?

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