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White House Chefs Share What It's Like To Cook For The President

The White House kitchen isn’t like any other kitchen in America. As a matter of fact, there are many kitchens inside the historic building. Ever wonder what it’s like to cook in one of those kitchens?

We spoke to three people who have first-hand experience cooking in the White House and asked them what it’s like to prepare meals for the most powerful people in the world and their families.

White House pastry chef Bill Yosses describes the desserts offered at a dinner for U.S. governors to first lady Michelle Obama in 2009. (Pool via Getty Images)
White House pastry chef Bill Yosses describes the desserts offered at a dinner for U.S. governors to first lady Michelle Obama in 2009. (Pool via Getty Images)

White House chefs come from military (and restaurant) backgrounds.

Two types of chefs work in the White House: those from the military and those from the restaurant world.

“The military chefs are often Navy/Coast Guard, but there’s also a few from the Army and Air Force,” said Bill Yosses, a restaurant owner and former pastry chef at the White House from 2006-2014.

Yosses was never in the military. He made a name for himself on the New York restaurant scene, and his life changed when he got a call from the White House asking him to bake for George W. Bush and the first family in 2006.

He loved his time there, which lasted through much of Barack Obama’s tenure, and had nothing but good things to say about his former coworkers. They’re very much unsung heroes in America,” he said of the residence’s staff, which includes carpenters and plumbers. “Many of them have been there for decades. They’re devoted public servants.”

Chef Andre Rush is a motivational speaker and Army veteran who gained national attention from a photo of him (and his biceps) grilling on White House grounds. His White House tenure began in 1997 when, through one of his mentors in the military, he had the opportunity to cook for Bill Clinton and he seized it. He’s cooked on and off in White House kitchens until as recently as 2018. “Once I got in, everything was up to me,” he said. “I had to perform and do well. It also didn’t hurt that I already had a top-secret security clearance.”

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