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.

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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.