Like Water for Choclate uses Magical Realism to capture the transformative qualities of everyday food and drink into something more. Also consider reading (and enjoying) Joanne Harris' amazing Chocolat.
This week, 85 years ago, in 1928 O.F. Rohwedder delivered his newly invented slicing machine to the Missouri’s Chillicothe Baking Company and bread has never been the same since.
The uniform slices not only delighted many a weary housewives and legions of fatigued chefs, it also brought cheers from the companies that produced toasters. The standardized slices produced by Rohwedder’s marvelous new machine insured that irregular slices would never get stuck again (and horror-of-horrors never burn) in the toaster.
As a result, toaster sales soared, resulting in a nearly endless variety of designs. Today collectors rejoice when they can locate these unique units. But the impact of sliced bread didn’t stop there.
The production of lunch boxes, especially those designed to catch the eye of school children, equally exploded and standardized to match the size of the newly standardized commercially produced sliced loafs of white bread.
Soon breads such as Wonder Bread constituted the key component of the “wonderful” sandwich Jack and Jane ate in their school lunch room – with few noticing at the time the vitamins missing from the bread.
Today school lunch programs are far more aware of nutrition – or at least should be. From Michele Obama’s White House Garden to chef led programs such as those proposed by Jamie Oliver and Charlie Trotter, insightful school cooks are shifting from a commercially baked bread centered diet to one of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables.
Yet old habits (good or bad) die hard and America STILL has an ongoing love affair with sliced bread, even including such phrases as “the easiest thing since sliced bread“ and “as easy as sliced bread” in everyday speech.
So what’s the latest expression of affection for the grand ol’ loaf? It’s a birthday cake shaped like a beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
A special novelty baking pan, entitled the "Cakewich Pan", shapes the cake into sliced bread shapes and fruit frosting mimics the traditional sandwich jelly.
Only in America!
Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013
Once in the land of mass produced, high calorie foods, vegetarians were considered, well, just strange and marginal. But no longer.
Today veggies are seen as good and normal - part of an informed lifestyle choice. We should, of course, thank such culinary leaders as Alice Waters and Michelle Obama, who among others have helped to change the way we think about food.
As of last weekend, we can also thank Justin Timberlake and the creative team at Saturday Night Live who helped their millions of viewers to laugh and so take a trip to that once forbidden destination - Veganville.
Chefs will surely cheer (and so will the diners' doctors) - because now we can all "live longer and prosper".
Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013
This year’s event was a memorable gathering that offered a menu of outstanding cuisine, belief in the future and insightful humor.
The very busy chefs in the Washington Hilton’s kitchens delighted the over 3,000 guests attending with the following menu:
Salad
Black Lentil Terrine with Lump Crabmeat Tango Green and Red Artisan Greens Red and Yellow Tear Drop Tomatoes Dill Vinaigrette
Entrée Texas Rubbed Petite Filet with a Calvados Demi paired with Duo of Jumbo Shrimp seasoned with Red Curry Roasted Haricot Verts, Baby Pepper, Patty Pan Squash Tasso Mache Choux Risotto
Dessert The Galaxy -- Rich Chocolate Truffle Mousse layered with Chocolate Genoise and Almond Macaroon and a Ganache Truffle Center with chocolate glaze garnished with fresh raspberries
Michelle Obama, the nation’s elegant first lady, worn a floral gown by the Indian born American designer Naeem Khan. As always she charmed and put at ease all that she met.
But the true stars of the evening were Barack Obama and political humor. For those who questioned the appropriateness of laughter in an era that faces global unrest and fearful unemployment worldwide, it is important that since 1920, when thefirst dinner was hosted, humor has always been an invaluable tool to de-stress and remember through the laughter what is truly important.
Should Obama be re-elected, his second term will be his lastas dictated by the American constitution. As a result, the President sought through humor to ask his audience to reach to the future.
After the dinner on Monday morning, the Democratic campaign team released their first major video ad listing, yes, the accomplishments of the President’s first four years but also setting a “FORWARD” theme for the next four years.
“Forward” is a wise choice as change and innovation requires motion as any member of the hospitality industry knows. That forward motion must include everyone, not just a few - be they single departments or selected social groups. No hotel or restaurant is successful only in part and neither is any nation.
Together is better and that’s no joke!
Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012
So here’s the creative menu developed by the White House’s talented Executive Chef Cris Comerford, who deftly blended the cuisine of these two countries together - nations that have long been allies and friends during the best and the worst of times:
First Course:Crisped halibut with potato crust, served on a bed of braised baby kale from the White House garden. Shaved Brussels sprouts, Applewood smoked bacon
Salad Course:Spring garden lettuces with shallot dressing and shaved radish, cucumbers and avocados
Main Course:Bison Wellington, pairing the pastry case created for the British soldier and statesman, the Duke of Wellington with American buffalo tenderloin from North Dakota, instead of beef. Red wine reduction, French beans, cipollini onion
Dessert:Steamed lemon puddingwith IdahoHuckleberry Sauce and Newtown Pippin apples
And the setting couldn’t have been better – a beautiful spring evening in a tent under the sparkling stars on the White House's South Lawn. Well done and bravo!
Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012
In a strange twist of fate, this year’s holiday model of the White House crafted from gingerbread and white chocolate, echoes the reality of the U.S. President Obama. As of today, the President is there alone in the beautifully decorated White House (except for the family dog Bo) waiting for conservative members of the House of Representative to address the much desired payroll tax cut.
Perhaps the beauty of this year’s amazing gingerbread White House, created by the Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses with the thoughtful guidance of First Lady Michelle Obama, will offer him some additional holiday cheer.
Working from the original architectural drawing for the White House, Chef Yosses has created yet another stunning holiday masterpiece – this time weighing over 400 pounds!
Gingerbread house construction bgean in late September when sheets of gingerbread were baked using the traditional gingerbread recipe long used by the White House kitchen (see recipe below). This allowed ample time for the gingerbread sheets to harden before they were cut into wall and floor panels ready for assembling.
With Assistant Pastry Chef Susie Morrisonacting as a supervising construction contractor in the famed China Room, where the various presidential china collections are displayed, the model began to take form. When finally completed this year’s culinary wonder was displayed on a marble-topped console table in the State Dining Room.
At the suggestion of First Lady Michelle Obama, the 2011 replica included chocolate models of the White House culinary garden complete with beehives and sheltered vegetables rows.
Their thoughtful display was a wonderful way to say yet once again that healthy eating should be something all American shoould focus on each and enjoy every day.
Made with ample royal icing, his addition to the scene surely brought a smile to the over 85,000 pre-Christmas Day White House visitors. Now that’s a full house any hotel would envy!
Yet come Christmas Day, it’s currently unclear if the President of the United States will be joining his wife and daughters in Hawaii as he waits in Washington DC for the conservative Republicans of the House to address the nation’s urgent needs.
Perhaps those hesitant members of the House should remember what every great chef knows by heart and something so clearly declared to Scrooge by the ghost of his deceased business partner in Charles Dickens' memorable morality story, A Christmas Carol:
We in the hospitality industry craft, not with laws and legistation, but in sugar and with cuisine and service, but these are only a means of expression.
The true meaning of our profession hinges on the quality of our choices, the depth of values that we choose to express though our everyday actions. That said, may we all, like the newly enlightened Scrooge, keep that spirit of compassion within our hearts all year long as we serve and create!
Happy Holidays!
White House Holiday Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing
Ingredients for the Cookies
8 oz (2 sticks) butter, soft 2 cups dark brown sugar 2 eggs, large 1 cup molasses 7 cups All Purpose flour ¼ tsp ginger ground ¼ tsp cinnamon, ground 1 tsp baking soda ¼ tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt Lemon zest from 1 lemon Orange zest from 1 orange
Method 1. Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer for a minimum 5 minutes. 2. Add eggs one by one, then molasses. 3. Put mixer on slow, sift spices, salt, baking powder and baking soda with flour then add these dry ingredients in three increments and scrape bowl each time. 4. Add zests and mix until incorporated, but do not over mix. 5. Remove dough from bowl and place on plastic wrap and spread to 1" thickness over wrap and cover with another sheet of plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. 6. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out a small piece on a floured surface. This dough is very wet, so add flour when necessary to prevent sticking and turn over often. 7. Roll out to 1/8 to ¼ inch thickness for cookies. Cut out Gingerbread shapes. 8. Bake for 12 minutes at 350°F for cookies; 25 minutes or more for ornaments or gingerbread houses. 9. Decorate with Royal Icing
Royal Icing
Ingredients 2 cups Confectioner's sugar, sifted 1 egg white 1 tsp lemon juice
Method Mix with paddle attachment on electric blender (or by hand) for 5 minutes. If icing is too thick, add more lemon juice or a little egg white to desired consistency.
Post Note, 12/23/2011: Perhaps the conservative Republicans of the U.S. House of Representatives have heard the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future as they have finallyagreed to pass the expension of the payroll tax cut.
With additional dollars to spend millions of people will enjoy the Holidays much more in warmer homes and many welcoming restaurants. And so perhaps now we can all return to the true meaning of these final winter days, expressed so well in the closing words of Dickens' belovedA Christmas Carol.
Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011
Tuesday, July 9, 2013 at 3:46PM 
This week, 85 years ago, in 1928 O.F. Rohwedder delivered his newly invented slicing machine to the Missouri’s Chillicothe Baking Company and bread has never been the same since.
So what’s the latest expression of affection for the grand ol’ loaf? It’s a birthday cake shaped like a beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 
