“I finally see the real importance of being detail oriented” and other lessons from a Saturday at the White House

Relaxing in Lafayette Park after a hard day's work

On a sunny Saturday, one week before Halloween, 3 Brainfood students were invited to do what every DC sweet tooth dreams of in the month of October: help the White House pastry kitchen prepare treats for Halloween.  It seemed like a positively delicious way to spend an afternoon, but as any Brainfood student knows, working in the kitchen often means finding satisfaction in hard work, and taking pride in getting things done behind the scenes. 

This particular Saturday found us all stuffing some of the 3,000 treat bags that the President and First Lady would be giving out to the White House trick-or-treaters.  Each bag got a handful of dried fruit, a package of the coveted White House M&Ms, and a White House sugar cookie gussied up with bright orange icing.  To speed things up, we got together an assembly line, and started filling bags.  While the steps of the process were relatively easy, the challenge was to repeat each step with the same precision over and over again.  When you spend a few hours doing the same task, like, say, putting a scoop of dried fruit in a bag, you begin to slowly notice the small variations.  Certain bags have more mangos, or less dried banana chips, and these discrepancies challenge you to adapt your system and, in the parlance of the kitchen, work smarter instead of harder. 

Developing a good sense of kitchen efficiency, as it turned out, was one of the themes for the day.  On a short break from our bagging duties, Chef Susie graciously toured us through the pastry shop and introduced us to Chris, the head of the chocolate shop.  Both rooms, while significantly smaller than our students had imagined, were impeccably organized and filled to the gills with everything from the standard chocolate molds and baking implements to sample photos and elaborate menus for future events.  The narrow pastry shop seemed to barely fit the three friendly chefs who welcomed us as we crowded into their already full workspace.  As we tried to find the best way to pose for a picture in the small space, our minds were further blown when the chefs casually mentioned that during Christmas season, over 23,000 cookies would be baked in the room about the size of a large walk-in closet.  Halloween was no big deal-- just 3,000 cookies needed to be baked. The number made Brainfood grad Tailor wonder aloud how much flour the White House goes through in a year.  Before we had a chance to pick our jaws up off the floor, there was still a trip to the even tinier chocolate shop in store.  In comparison to the tight quarters of the chocolate shop, the pastry shop seemed positively spacious.  Yet, like the pastry shop, the chocolate chefs crank out an impressive array of chocolate wonders in their small space.  Chris's current 2-month project was recreating the White House out of white chocolate for the holiday display.  The miniature chisels, along with the detailed blueprints and close up shots of all the detailing spoke to the intricate task ahead of him. 

Yet for all the grandeur that we got to see in our day at the White House, it was the simpler lessons that stuck with Tailor, Francisco, and Vaniah.  More impressive than the blown sugar roses and the white chocolate White House was the down-to-earth personalities of all the chefs, and the incredible modesty with which they spoke of their amazing work.  As true disciples of the kitchen, our students were fittingly impressed that a small kitchen could make over 23,000 cookies for the holiday season.  But even more awe-inspiring was the fact that, regardless of the sheer quantity of food being produced, each individual cookie received care and attention as if it was the only one.  In short, it was a world class level of kitchen professionalism made even more remarkable because of the quiet, genial, approachability of the chefs and staff. 

- Carina

Click here to read about Sunday's visit to the White House

Click here to read about Brainfood's Halloween visit - MUST READ!