Why Donald Trump Is The Hardest President To Cook For, According To His Former White House Chef
President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be the easiest guy to work for. Setting aside his controversial political tactics (to say the least), he’s said to have some personality quirks that make him a relatively difficult character for those who work for him. He reportedly watches four hours of television a day and refuses to let anyone else touch the remote, gets cranky when he’s not in the news cycle, downs up to 12 cans of Diet Coke a day, and has some rather interesting eating habits.
Needless to say, Donald Trump’s former White House chef has lots to say about what it’s really like working in the White House kitchen, especially for Donald Trump during his first term. During an interview with Politico, chef Andre Rush dished (pun intended) about Donald Trump’s eating habits and what it was like to cook for possibly the world’s pickiest president.
According to Rush, Trump’s public persona of being a burgers, fast food, and well-done steak kind of guy is not exaggerated. And rumors of his Diet Coke consumption are no joke. “He’s known for not drinking water,” Rush said. “He’s always been on his soda trip. That’s all he drinks, 24/7.” Oh, and the story about the president having a button that he could press to get someone to bring him a Diet Coke? “That’s true,” Rush says. But that’s not where Donald Trump’s eccentric eating habits end. Rush named him the most difficult president to cook for due to his aversion to trying new foods.
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Donald Trump’s Diet Lacks Diversity
A burger is served and sweet potato fries on the side. – Ltphotoinc/Shutterstock
For chef Rush, the main challenge of being Donald Trump’s chef seemed to be that he liked to eat the same things over and over again. While Obama was the easiest to cook for, “the hardest was Trump,” Rush told Politico. “There was not a lot of diversity to it. As a chef, you want to be able to explore and have more fun. With him and [Melania Trump], it was black and white.”
Figuring out how to serve Trump nutrient-dense food was also an issue. While the president “does try to eat healthy,” he’s the president, so you kind of have to give him what he asks for, at least at first. Cooking for the president, according to Rush, is a balancing act between fulfilling his desires and “manipulating” his food by taking a few calculated risks in order to sneak some healthy options in there. Rush explained, “If he wants a burger, if he wants a taco salad, if he wants a salmon, once you get to know him better, you can manipulate it by saying, ‘Oh, he’ll like it this way.’ You have to be political on that. You can’t just go in hard charging, saying, ‘I’m going to give him this, I’m going to give him that.'”
For example, Rush said once he got to know him better, if Trump asked for a burger, he might put some turkey in the ground meat, serve beef bacon on top instead of pork, and pair it with sweet potato fries for a slightly healthier take on the president’s favorite dish. But if Rush’s word is anything to go by, the dynamic between the POTUS and the White House chef is certainly a delicate one.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
