# Does the White House have a kitchen where the first family can make their own food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063 "2015-03-03T02:17:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/41 "2015-03-04T02:06:15Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Got a cite for that? Random times and places? Is it just me or does that sound, um, odd? It’s seem like the SS/POTUS would have a more practical means of obtaining groceries. That is the most practical and efficient way for the POTUS to obtain groceries. Government contracts are very expensive to administer and are geared towards bulk items to serve thousands of people, not individuals. If a President needs produce for a basic salad, the best way to get it is to send Secret Service agents down to the local Whole Foods to pick some up just like anyone else would. They still have to pay for the food but not the agents. I have a friend that grew up in a Secret Service family protecting Carter, Reagan and Ford (after office). He is the one that told me about the shopping part of the job although I provided another cite for it earlier. Yes, the Secret Service really did go shopping at candy stores to get jelly-beans because Reagan loved them just for one example. That is the way it works for all modern Presidents and would work for you if you were forced to have a security force to do your shopping. They can’t just scoot down to the local supermarket themselves on a whim because the security cost is so high. One thing that I didn’t know when I read more about this topic was that the President has to pay for even basic necessities like toilet paper, paper towels and meal service on Air Force One. They even have to pay personally if state dinners go over budget. Screw that. My employer treats me better than that. There is no way I am paying a cent for any work related trip. That $400,000 a year doesn’t look so good because the benefits are terrible. I think my dentist makes more than that and she isn’t ever going to be an assassination target. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/42 "2015-03-04T02:11:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > That is the most practical and efficient way for the POTUS to obtain groceries. Government contracts are very expensive to administer and are geared towards bulk items to serve thousands of people, not individuals. If a President needs produce for a basic salad, the best way to get it is to send Secret Service agents down to the local Whole Foods to pick some up just like anyone else would. They still have to pay for the food but not the agents. > > I have a friend that grew up in a Secret Service family protecting Carter, Reagan and Ford (after office). He is the one that told me about the shopping part of the job although I provided another site for it earlier. Yes, the Secret Service really did go shopping at candy stores to get jelly-beans because Reagan loved them just for one example. That is the way it works for all modern Presidents and would work for you if you were forced to have a security force to do your shopping. They can’t just scoot down to the local supermarket themselves on a whim because the security cost is so high. > > One thing that I didn’t know when I read more about this topic was that the President has to pay for even basic necessities like toilet paper, paper towels and meal service on Air Force One. They even have to pay personally if state dinners go over budget. Screw that. My employer treats me better than that. There is no way I am paying a cent for any work related trip. That $400,000 a year doesn’t look so good because the benefits are terrible. I think my dentist makes more than that and she isn’t ever going to be an assassination target. So that would be “no”, then? And anyway, I’m not questioning whether or not the Secret Service is in fact who _gets_ the food for the Pres, I’m questioning the whole “doing it at random times and places” in order to throw off food poisoners. _That_ is what strikes me as odd and inefficient. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/43 "2015-03-04T02:29:27Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > So that would be “no”, then? That would be an emphatic ‘Yes’ then. You didn’t bother to read earlier posts so try read and understand before you try to imply that people don’t know what they are talking about. Here it is again just like it was a few posts up thread. > **[All The President's Meals](https://deadpresidents.tumblr.com/post/13838828369/all-the-presidents-meals)** > > (Reposted in rebloggable form by request) > > tglstory asked: do you know anything about the everyday meals of the president? is it like it's normally prepared but the first family can cook their own fo… “The First Family will decide what groceries they need and the Secret Service will shop for the groceries. To ensure the President’s safety, the Secret Service randomly shops at various grocery stores when stocking the President’s kitchens or purchasing the food for Air Force One.” There are plenty of other cites in book and magazine form as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/44 "2015-03-04T02:39:05Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > That would be an emphatic ‘Yes’ then. You didn’t bother to read earlier posts so try read and understand before you try to imply that people don’t know what they are talking about. > > Here it is again just like it was a few posts up thread. > > [All The President's Meals - Dead Presidents](http://deadpresidents.tumblr.com/post/13838828369/all-the-presidents-meals) > > “The First Family will decide what groceries they need and the Secret Service will shop for the groceries. To ensure the President’s safety, the Secret Service randomly shops at various grocery stores when stocking the President’s kitchens or purchasing the food for Air Force One.” > > There are plenty of other cites in book and magazine form as well. You’re right, I am wrong. I apologize. I didn’t see your first response. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/45 "2015-03-04T02:48:57Z")
> [@Mr.Goob](#): > > …The TV show the West Wing had a small informal kitchen as a set in the later seasons as well. The DVD special features talked about how they got extended White House tours and tried to be very true when building the sets. At the time it was (still was?) The biggest sets and sound stages ever made for a TV show. In the government shutdown episode Abby Bartlett used the family kitchen to prepare a private dinner they invited the British Prime Minister & her husband after the original state dinner was cancelled. And she did her grocery shopping herself, surrounded by Secret Service agents and reporters. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/46 "2015-03-04T02:49:20Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > You’re right, I am wrong. I apologize. I didn’t see your first response. No problem or harm done. I have a casual interest in U.S. Presidential security detail because I think it is interesting and so extreme especially compared to other world leaders. The Secret Service doesn’t always do its job perfectly but their protocols protect against every imaginable threat from nuclear war to food poisoning. Even the mundane things they do like food shopping protocols are interesting and intense. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/47 "2015-03-04T04:33:12Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > So that would be “no”, then? > > And anyway, I’m not questioning whether or not the Secret Service is in fact who _gets_ the food for the Pres, I’m questioning the whole “doing it at random times and places” in order to throw off food poisoners. _That_ is what strikes me as odd and inefficient. I’m just wondering- why would shopping at random times and places would be significantly less efficient than shopping at a set time and place? I mean, shopping anywhere except the one store that is the _most_ convenient is somewhat less efficient, but I’m sure there are a number of stores that are only slightly less convenient and require an only slightly longer shopping trip. Washington is less than 10 miles square, and the first page of the Yellowpages for “supermarkets and grocery stores” lists 8 Safeways , a few Giants, some 7-11s, a Whole Foods and some independent grocery stores - and that’s only the first page. I mean , I’m not worried about anyone poisoning my food- and I still do my grocery shopping at random places and times. Although come to think of it, that’s often because it’s more convenient/efficient to fit in the grocery shopping around whatever else I’m doing\* than to have a scheduled trip to a particular supermarket every Saturday morning at 9am or whatever. Which is more or less what I suspect the Secret Service is doing- simply avoiding a pattern by fitting shopping in around other duties or having different agents do the shopping on the way to or from the White House rather than making some schedule that has all the “random” shopping trips for the year planned in January. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/48 "2015-03-04T04:59:00Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > And moreover, what do they charge him? > > 1. Do they charge him the cost of the groceries used to make the food? > > 2. Do they charge him some arbitrary synthetic number that has nothing to do with the real costs? (say, they charge him the price per meal that an officer mess in the military charges per meal) > > 3. Do they charge him the cost of the ingredients + the labor of the cooks but nothing else? > > 4. Or, do they charge him the true costs - the costs of the chefs, the secret service escorts during the grocery runs, everything. They add up all the costs of running the kitchen and divide by the number of meals. It’s 1. The chefs are paid for by the government. As for the food, that is purchased by the government, but a tab is kept and the president pays it once a month. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/49 "2015-03-04T18:53:58Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > By contrast, his predecessor famously never used the kitchen in the residence, repeatly declaring with vehemence, “_I am not a cook!_” Watergate Salad? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/50 "2015-03-04T19:30:33Z")
I seem to recall that when the Obamas first occupied the White House, Michelle’s mother, Marian Robinson, stated that she wanted to teach Malia and Sasha to cook. Haven’t heard about this since. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/51 "2015-03-04T19:43:59Z")
> [@SpeedwayRyan](#): > > Watergate Salad? ewww, no way am I eating a salad with bugs in it. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/52 "2015-03-04T22:21:25Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I understand Jack Ford had himself a sort of apartment set up on the 3rd floor. I suspect he and Jimmy Carter’s sons might have come down with a case of the spontaneous munchies while staying in the White House. I guess it might have been easier if they sent someone out to pick up some pizza for them before it, um, became necessary. > > And I bet there’s a rooftop porch or deck or whatever you’d call it where you could go if you wanted, um, a breath of fresh air. Yeah, that’s the ticket! If you wanted to step outside for a breath of fresh air! Since I’m pretty sure you are talking about weed, there’s always the story that [Willie Nelson](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=348017) likes to tell about smoking a joint on the roof of the White House. I don’t know how true it is (although Willie seems to be sincere), but he could probably confirm the rooftop porch or deck hypothesis. > [@](#): > > Wasn’t there something during the Nixon administration about an opened can of strawberries going missing? this is totally going over my head. I’m guessing there’s a joke here somewhere. Please elaborate. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/53 "2015-03-04T22:57:31Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > > [@eschereal](#): > > > > > [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > > > > > Wasn’t there something during the Nixon administration about an opened can of strawberries going missing? > > > > Did that involve measuring it out with spoonfuls of sand to figure out how much was unaccounted for? > > this is totally going over my head. I’m guessing there’s a joke here somewhere. Please elaborate. it alludes to _The Caine Mutiny_ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/54 "2015-03-04T23:23:56Z")
Y’all just reminded me of something. Early 90’s I drove a truck for a local produce company. A restaurant customer put in an order that was a little different for them, day of the week or something, I don’t remember. Bill Clinton and Air Force One was here for an event that day. The chef on the plane was from my city. He called his old boss the lady that owned the restaurant he worked at when he was 16 to get fresh stuff for the ride home. When I delivered to an otherwise empty restaurant the lady told me what was up. I think it was a lot more of “local kid done good” being nice to his old boss who was a very nice lady, than a convoluted security arrangement. But that could be true too as a bonus. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/55 "2015-03-05T02:04:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I seem to recall that when the Obamas first occupied the White House, Michelle’s mother, Marian Robinson, stated that she wanted to teach Malia and Sasha to cook. Haven’t heard about this since. IIRC the First Lady doesn’t allow the domestic staff to clean her daughters’’ bedrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/56 "2015-03-05T03:02:58Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Totally. Otherwise it’s like living permanently at an all inclusive resort. Nice for a week or so, but quite tedious after a while. If your work schedule is basically around-the-clock emergencies, I could see the appeal of having people deliver food to you at-need. I doubt that being the President is much like having a life on a resort. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/57 "2015-03-07T02:02:17Z")
I just wanted to add that there is also an outside food storage facility for White House food. Lots of refrigerators and so on. I wish I could find the article now, because I can’t remember if there were also testing facilities for poisons in the facility. If I was First Lady, I’d use the kitchen though. I like my cooking. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/58 "2015-03-07T02:26:40Z")
> [@SpeedwayRyan](#): > > Pizza and milk? Ewww. I always want a glass of milk with pizza, or anything that has tomato sauce as a main ingredient—spaghetti, lasagna, etc. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/59 "2015-03-07T05:22:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There is no way I am paying a cent for any work related trip. That $400,000 a year doesn’t look so good because the benefits are terrible. I think my dentist makes more than that and she isn’t ever going to be an assassination target. Before you diss the benefits, take another look at that pension plan! ---
**Author:** ![Willingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@Willingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Willingham)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063/60 "2015-03-07T05:51:03Z")
When his family and personal guests eat what’s coming out of the kitchen, he’ll have to foot the bill himself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-white-house-have-a-kitchen-where-the-first-family-can-make-their-own-food/714063.md?page=4)