As the Obamas prepare for their fourth state dinner with Germany in June, chef Marcus Samuelsson paid a visit to the District on Wednesday and gabbed about what it was like to prepare the administration’s first state dinner with India.
“State dinners are now forever changed because of that dinner,” Samuelsson said of the November 2009 affair. “Up until that point every dinner, regardless of country, was French,” he explained. Samuelsson switched it up by crafting a menu with Indian influences and using ingredients from Michelle Obama‘s vegetable garden. “It was also in the middle of the recession, so I thought coming with foie gras and truffles would be just wrong,” he said.
Samuelsson’s journey to the White House kitchen didn’t sound easy. “I was one of 40, and Sam Kass, that works down the street from here, called me and said, ‘Marcus you’re under consideration, but, guess what, so are all the other best chefs in the country.’ ” Samuelsson came up with menu concepts and the White House wanted to taste test. “About 10 days before, I knew it would happen,” Samuelsson said. “And then there was the hard part, all of your staff has to be quiet about it.”
The Ethiopian-born Swedish chef chatted at the House of Sweden, getting a warm introduction from the Swedish Ambassador to the United States Jonas Hafstrom. “When I say the words ‘Swedish chef’ many still think of the Muppets character … throwing knives and yelling, ‘bork, bork, bork,’ ” Hafstrom said. But Samuelsson, with his multicultural influences, was “the epitome of today’s Swedish chef,” he said.
