WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton believes in the power of food. Over more than three years as America’s top diplomat, she has increasingly used cuisine as a tool to bring people together.
Now Clinton is enlisting top-rated chefs from across the nation to join an effort to forge cultural exchanges over the dining table worldwide.
On Friday, more than 80 chefs are being inducted into the first American Chef Corps. These food experts could help the State Department prepare meals for visiting dignitaries, travel to U.S. embassies abroad for educational programs with foreign audiences or host culinary experts from around the world in their U.S. kitchens.
This month, chefs and food experts from 25 countries are visiting Washington, New York, San Francisco, the Midwest and New Orleans to learn about U.S. food culture in a State Department program.
The new Diplomatic Culinary Partnership is part of Clinton’s “smart power” philosophy of using “every diplomatic tool at our disposal,” said U.S. Chief of Protocol Capricia Penavic Marshall, in a written response to questions from The Associated Press.
Clinton’s focus on the role of food in person-to-person diplomacy began when she was first lady and Marshall served as White House social secretary.
Gone is a heavy reliance on French fare or catering menus to serve special guests.
At a February luncheon for Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, Marshall called on Chinese-American chef Ming Tsai, who owns the Wellesley, Mass., restaurant Blue Ginger. He created a special menu fusing Chinese and American cultures that included an “eight treasured rice packet” with a variety of flavors and gingered Swiss chard.
To feed British Prime Minister David Cameron in March, diplomats chose chef April Bloomfield, owner of New York’s Spotted Pig, who was born in Britain. The menu included slow-cooked Atlantic salmon, herbed lentils, roasted fennel, cauliflower and petite carrots.
The State Department also offers snacks or tea to jet-lagged guests with a flavor from their homes to make them comfortable.
Hail to the chefs
E Mike Isabella: Washington, D.C., chef who gained fame on TV’s “Top Chef”
Ming Tsai: Chinese-American chef owns the Wellesley, Mass., restaurant Blue Ginger
April Bloomfield: British-born owner of New York’s Spotted Pig
Jose Andres: Washington, D.C.-area chef who cooked for the 50th anniversary of the State Department’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms
Bryan Voltaggio: Maryland chef and runner-up on TV’s “Top Chef” who prepared dinner for Japan’s prime minister
Rick Bayless: Chicago chef who cooked President Barack Obama’s second state dinner for the Mexican president
