An interesting little story from AP:
Visiting one of his favorite Chicago restaurants in November, Barack Obama was asked by an excited waitress if he wanted the restaurant's special margarita made with the finest ingredients, straight up and shaken at the table.
"You know that's the way I roll," Obama replied jokingly.
Rick Bayless, the chef of that restaurant, Topolobampo, says Obama's comfortable demeanor at the table - slumped contentedly in his chair, clearly there to enjoy himself - bodes well for the nation's food policy. While former President George W. Bush rarely visited restaurants and didn't often talk about what he ate, Obama dines out frequently and enjoys exploring different foods.
"He's the kind of diner who wants to taste all sorts of things," Bayless says. "What I'm hoping is that he's going to recognize that we need to do what we can in our country to encourage real food for everyone."
Phrases like "real food" and "farm-to-table" may sound like elitist jargon tossed around at upscale restaurants. But the country's top chefs, several of whom traveled to Washington for Obama's inauguration this week, hope that Obama's flair for good food will encourage people to expand their horizons when it comes to what they eat.
We say: the fact that Obama is even in Topolobampo shows that he knows his stuff. Outside of Mexico, the best Mexican food is to be found in Chicago, and Rick Bayless, whose books we love, is the main man of Mexican cooking in the USA.
Of course, Obama only needs to follow the advice offered by Michael Pollan in his New York Times piece – available to read, if you have 15 or 20 minutes – on www.michaelpollan.com – to transform American agriculture and eating. That's the way to roll.
