Walter Scheib

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walter S. Scheib III (born May 3, 1954) was the White House executive chef from 1994 until 2005. Scheib is known for his creation of a distinctly American cuisine for the White House. He was responsible in this role for preparing everything from simple First Family dinners to very formal State Dinners. His creations were served to many of the highest dignitaries in the world, including Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Vicente Fox, Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela and Boris Yeltsin.

Scheib has been passionate about food since childhood. Upon graduating from high school, he attended the Culinary Institute of America. After that, he began working as a rounds cook in Washington, D.C. He was promoted within three years to executive chef.

In 1994, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton was impressed by Scheib's work at the Greenbrier Resort and asked him to serve as executive chef at the White House. Clinton felt that it was important to showcase the best of American cuisine at the nation's First House, and Chef Scheib delivered to high renown.

After eleven years in the White House, Chef Scheib was asked to resign by First Lady Laura Bush. Officially, the reasoning was that he was unable to meet the stylistic requirements of the First Lady. Sources say he was unhappy about the First Family's alleged insistence that he give up all French cooking techniques. Apparently there was also some frustration over the 2005 Inaugural Dinner, where Scheib was ordered to create a menu honoring the brand names of top Bush and Republican Party supporters. The menu included Pilgrim's Pride turkeys brined in Coca Cola stuffed with Dunkin' Donuts cake doughnuts, and Krispy Kreme "Snow Balls" with Nestlé "Nesquik" Hot Fudge Sauce.^[1]^[2]

Since leaving the White House, Scheib has gone on to write his first cookbook, The American Chef, and form a corporation of the same name to market his classes and special events. He was replaced at the White House by Cristeta Comerford.

He appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on February 5, 2007.