Taste Trendsetters: First Ladies In The Kitchen

Nancy Reagan

After Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter had come and gone, Ronald Reagan was next to reside in the White House, and Chef Haller notes that First Lady Nancy Reagan was deeply involved in matters related to the kitchen. According to an article in The New York Times, Nancy ” instituted a system of tryout menus for state dinners,” describing what she wanted to be changed after three different rehearsals.

Haller has said that when Nancy was in control, she knew what she wanted. Everything from “smaller portions, different color combinations. The platters [they made were] fancier. [They spent] more time on them. [They took] pictures with a Polaroid so the staff [knew] how they are to be done. With the Reagans you have to be more creative.”

Clinton’s Global Taste

Chef Haller retired by the time the Reagans left office and after the first set of Bush’s resided in the White House, the kitchen didn’t get spiced up again until 1993, when Hillary Clinton was the new First Lady. She reportedly wanted “American food and wine as well as healthful menus and a flourish of global flavors.” She hired American chef Walter Scheib.

Hillary reportedly wanted “a real sense of diversity and regional American food reflected in the nation’s house,” and even had an affinity for spicy food. This might have sparked an interest in more regional cuisine for the taste buds of Americans across the country.