Sam Kass

Barack Obama’s former personal chef on lunchbox bartering, lucky pasta and that time he helped the First Lady dig up the White House lawn.

What did you eat as a school kid growing up in Chicago? My parents would make me lunch everyday. It was a point of great consternation because it was always pretty healthy and boring – a turkey sandwich with cheddar cheese, applesauce, a cheese stick and an apple – so I never had anything to trade with the other kids. I never had anything anyone wanted.

You’re from a family of teachers. What was better in your household: the food or the conversation? The conversation. My parents always cooked ’80s and ’90s American-style food: iceberg salads, grilled chicken and beef, steamed vegetables. It was fine, but very simple.

When did you become interested in food? I always knew that I wanted to learn how to cook one day, but I had no dreams of being a chef. One summer during college in Chicago, I got a job at a restaurant – I started falling in love with the kitchen then.

At one point, though, you thought you’d be a baseball player. Yeah, all the way through college, it was my dream to make it to the major leagues. But I wasn’t good enough. My first trip abroad, though, was with an all-star team that went to Australia.

Did you eat anything memorable here? Vegemite! On toast. Nobody had ever heard of it in the United States.