"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 such as 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 last week, hope that Obama's flair for good food will encourage people to expand their horizons when it comes to what they eat.
These chefs promote locally grown, environmentally friendly and - most importantly - nutritious food. They urge diners, even those whom may never be able to afford to eat at their restaurants, to grow their own vegetables, shop at farmer's markets, and pay attention to where their food comes from.
Dan Barber, chef at New York's popular Blue Hill restaurant and a frequent critic of the country's food policy, says a few small gestures from the president and first lady Michelle Obama could accomplish what many of the chefs have been working toward for years.
"I recognize that I'm an elitist guy," says Barber, who cooked a $500-a-plate meal for incoming Obama aides and other guests at a small charity fund-raiser the night before the inauguration. "Increasingly raise awareness, but don't do it through chefs like me. . . . My advice would be more of a symbolic nature, and to not underestimate what can be done through the White House."
Barber said good food needs more publicity, and he hopes Obama and his wife will advertise what they are eating and what they are feeding their children, Malia, 10, and 7 Sasha, 7.
Many high-end chefs like Barber believe that most food in the United States is over-processed, over-subsidized, and grown with no regard to the environment, making it harder for small farms to make a profit selling more natural, nutritious food.
