Michael E. Generalithe myth of celebrity catering requests part 2 - politicians
August 23rd 2007 02:06
During my apprenticeship at the lobby I cooked for politicians on a regular basis. Functions were held there for those of labor and liberal persuasions, and many political journalists dined there also, the lack of Gossip I have about our local and federal members is due to most Australian politicians are in fact pretty down to earth people. I remember one night we had some prominent members of the labor party in for a function and when the mains (steak) were brought out a former prime minister ended up with a former treasurers steak (one well done one rare) any right minded famous rock star would probably throw a chair through a window jumped over the bar and held a bottle of Hennessey hostage till the right steak appeared, fortunately these former office holders didn’t put on a show, they simply swapped the steaks across the table, and the waiters would not have had they not seen it. To me, that seems a pretty normal response to something that’s bound to happen if you attend functions all the time.
Some of their international contemporaries, are perhaps just as grounded, the following is the menu for a function president George W. Bush attended recently
Hors d'oeuvres
Curried Chicken Salad in a Mini Cheese Basket
Mini Smoked Salmon Lollipops
Crabmeat Cigars with Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
Black Mission Fig with Prosciutto and Gorgonzola
Vegetable Tartelette with Goat Cheese
Drinks Sweetened and Unsweetened Fruit-Flavored Iced Tea with Lemon and Lime Wheels
Voss Mineral Water
Lemonade with Fresh Lemons to Garnish
First Course
Goat Cheese Walnut Mousse and Smoked Trout Rillettes with Assorted Olive Relish, Rosemary Crostini and Pickled Beets
Main Course
Sherry Poached Breast of Chicken with Spiced Estragon Consomme, Pearl Pasta and Vegetables, Oven-Roasted Tomato Tzatziki
Dessert
Flourless Chocolate Cake and Pineapple Almond Tart with Fresh Berries, Raspberry Coulis and Chocolate Straw
There is couple of things about this menu that bothers me. first at $2000 a plate its unlikely you or I or anyone we know would ever get a wiff of it. Secondly I wouldn’t mind trying some of it even though the language is a bit wanky, but the biggest thing that bothers me is that the president, according one of the other guests, didn’t actually eat any of the food laid before him. Now I don’t care where you come from, that’s just rude! I did however find an eatery he does seem to endorse and you can see the gastronomical delights he would enjoy by clicking hereSo, down to earth? yes ungrateful with no appreciation of fine food? I think so , possibly he was protesting the French components of the meal.
The leaders of the coalition and the opposition both certainly eat out and have dinner parties and all that jazz but if you want to find out what they eat and if they liked it well I guess you would just have to have been there. What the Australian public do get is all the info on who was or wasn’t there. John Howard has never had Costello over for a meal, Rudd dines with disgraced lobbyist (burke, no relation of mine),
Julia Gillard dines with a barren fruit bowl, all this is very interesting but it does seem to leave a lot out. Food as a context for relationships in politics is overlooked in all these instances, many workers have never eaten more then a sandwich in the presence of their boss, doesn’t mean they don’t work well together, and i think we as voters would be much more critical of a pm who put one of his best mates in the treasurers position.
Kevin had lunch with Brian Burke, I couldn’t give a stuff, from what I understand all they had was a couple of salads, no one does any serious lobbying over rabbit food. And as for julias fruit bowl, maybe it was empty because she had gorged herself on apples that morning, and has it been confirmed by a certified fruiterer or interior designer that it was a fruit bowl, not to my knowledge.
I think I can safely say that cooking for a politician would be a bad move for my career, and with that I will put to rest these thoughts, content in my role as cook for the Burke family, they are much more grateful and less demanding then any of the “stars” I have researched
Come down for the fathers day party in the park
I will doing a cooking show for A.C.T. health initiative, “go for 2 and 5” on September 2 at Weston park Yarralumla for more info click here hope to see you there
Hors d'oeuvres
Curried Chicken Salad in a Mini Cheese Basket
Mini Smoked Salmon Lollipops
Crabmeat Cigars with Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
Black Mission Fig with Prosciutto and Gorgonzola
Vegetable Tartelette with Goat Cheese
Drinks Sweetened and Unsweetened Fruit-Flavored Iced Tea with Lemon and Lime Wheels
Voss Mineral Water
Lemonade with Fresh Lemons to Garnish
First Course
Goat Cheese Walnut Mousse and Smoked Trout Rillettes with Assorted Olive Relish, Rosemary Crostini and Pickled Beets
Main Course
Sherry Poached Breast of Chicken with Spiced Estragon Consomme, Pearl Pasta and Vegetables, Oven-Roasted Tomato Tzatziki
Flourless Chocolate Cake and Pineapple Almond Tart with Fresh Berries, Raspberry Coulis and Chocolate Straw
There is couple of things about this menu that bothers me. first at $2000 a plate its unlikely you or I or anyone we know would ever get a wiff of it. Secondly I wouldn’t mind trying some of it even though the language is a bit wanky, but the biggest thing that bothers me is that the president, according one of the other guests, didn’t actually eat any of the food laid before him. Now I don’t care where you come from, that’s just rude! I did however find an eatery he does seem to endorse and you can see the gastronomical delights he would enjoy by clicking hereSo, down to earth? yes ungrateful with no appreciation of fine food? I think so , possibly he was protesting the French components of the meal.
The leaders of the coalition and the opposition both certainly eat out and have dinner parties and all that jazz but if you want to find out what they eat and if they liked it well I guess you would just have to have been there. What the Australian public do get is all the info on who was or wasn’t there. John Howard has never had Costello over for a meal, Rudd dines with disgraced lobbyist (burke, no relation of mine),
Julia's empty fruit bowl? get a life australia
Julia Gillard dines with a barren fruit bowl, all this is very interesting but it does seem to leave a lot out. Food as a context for relationships in politics is overlooked in all these instances, many workers have never eaten more then a sandwich in the presence of their boss, doesn’t mean they don’t work well together, and i think we as voters would be much more critical of a pm who put one of his best mates in the treasurers position.
a picture of John howard not dining with Peter Costello
Kevin had lunch with Brian Burke, I couldn’t give a stuff, from what I understand all they had was a couple of salads, no one does any serious lobbying over rabbit food. And as for julias fruit bowl, maybe it was empty because she had gorged herself on apples that morning, and has it been confirmed by a certified fruiterer or interior designer that it was a fruit bowl, not to my knowledge.
I think I can safely say that cooking for a politician would be a bad move for my career, and with that I will put to rest these thoughts, content in my role as cook for the Burke family, they are much more grateful and less demanding then any of the “stars” I have researched
Come down for the fathers day party in the park
I will doing a cooking show for A.C.T. health initiative, “go for 2 and 5” on September 2 at Weston park Yarralumla for more info click here hope to see you there
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