subject: Career As A Presidential Chef [print this page] Becoming a presidential chef is an extremely high honor, and one that is only bestowed on a new chef every several years. Some chefs are able to make this their career for many years, spanning numerous presidencies. Most of the time, however, these jobs last four to eight years depending on how long one president is in office for. Since the First Lady picks the presidential chef, most want to leave their own legacy on White House entertaining. So what exactly does a presidential chef do? It is certainly different from any other culinary arts job out there.
Presidential chefs do not usually apply for the job; it is typically the First Lady who seeks them out, after which they must go through rigorous tastings to be sure they are up to the task. This is not one of the career options that any chef-in-training should assume they can just work their way up to - this is a rare position that is extremely difficult to obtain. The presidential chef cooks all the meals for the first families, including children, and heads up the food preparation for all major White House events. They have a full staff working beneath them and a fully stocked kitchen with all the first family's favorites, and are prepared to do everything from cooking daily meals to coordinating catering for formal affairs.
The career information for this job is straight to the point - you earn $80,000 to $100,000 a year, you must be available to work all the time, you must live in Washington DC, and there have never been chefs in this position who did not have culinary degrees and extensive experience. The chef that Hillary Clinton hired, Walter Scheib, worked in the White House for 11 years before Laura Bush decided to let him go and promote his assistant, Cristeta Comerford, who was the first and only female presidential chef in the United States. She still holds this coveted position, so any culinary arts superstars looking to get into the White House might have to wait a few years before another opening is available.
