Rare roast beef, burgers, petite filet, Texas and Nebraska Wagyu beef, dry-aged ribeye, tenderloin, ribeye roast, braised short ribs and brisket. These entrees were among the featured proteins at President Obama’s White House dinner affairs in 2011. While past presidents have chosen menus including a wide variety of meats — duck, venison, bison, lamb and fish, the Obama family prefers U.S. beef, and the president is even noted for his last-minute burger and steak runs.
“Glorious, pricey beef was the entree for every major dinner that President Obama and First Lady Obama hosted in 2011, some with guest lists of hundreds. That stands in contrast to dinner tables across America, where beef consumption has plummeted 25% in the last 30 years, due to a combination of health and high-price concerns, according to USDA. The Obama dinner menus in 2011 read like a love letter to America’s worried cattle ranchers, because the beef served at the White House is always raised domestically,” writes Eddie Gehman Kohan, blogger and editor for Obama Foodorama.
“2011’s beefstravaganza included three State Dinners, the Governors’ Dinner, the Passover Seder, the president’s 50th birthday party, the Bipartisan Dinner, and the Combatant Commanders Dinner. Outside the White House, it was the same story: The President’s Return State Dinner in London for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the APEC Leaders Dinner in Hawaii had beef as the entree, too. And, in between the big-deal dinners, rare roast beef was served at White House receptions, including the holiday receptions, and at picnics for thousands, in the form of burgers. The president, well known for burger runs early in his administration, went on steak runs in 2011,” she adds.
” ‘I love steak,’ Mrs. Obama declared in November during a Let’s Move! event at an organic vegetable farm.
“ ‘I’m a medium-well guy,’ Obama said, the very first time he cooked in public as president, at a Father’s Day event in June 2009.”
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With beef at the center of the dinner plate, the White House is sending a clear message about the All-American meal: beef is a healthy, hearty protein that’s both simple and elegant. Which State House dinner would you have wanted to sit in on?
