What Barack Obama and his family may eat at the White House

Washington, Nov 12 : President-elect Barack Obama and his family will soon be moving in to the White House, and the kitchen staff there are preparing themselves to provided the First Family with their favourite foods.

The First Family will have the privilege of making changes in and around the presidential mansion, to add their own style to the cuisine, and to the decor while they stay there.

"It's not a hotel or a restaurant, it's a home," Fox News quoted former White House chef Walter Schieb, who worked for 11 years under the Clinton and Bush administrations, as saying.

Obama had in his interviews revealed that his favourite food was chili, which Schieb was very reluctant to reveal and also cautioned about disclosing the president's most beloved dish.

"He'll be fed it everywhere he goes for the rest of his life," he stated.

Besides the chili, Obama has also been known to favour fish and pistachios, as well as pumpkin pie.

Along with him his two daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, will also get to choose their favourite dishes.

In an interview in July 2008 with Entertainment Tonight, when Malia Obama was asked what her favourite food is, she replied ice cream.

"I could eat ice cream forever," she said.

However, in the same interview, Obama confessed that he was "not a real sweets guy".

"He likes like minty gum; he doesn't like bubble gum," Sasha noted at the time.

According to Schieb, the chief priority of the 90-person resident staff is to ensure that the comfort and personal tastes of the First Family are met.

"Our goal at the residence is to offer an isle of sanity in what is a crazy world for the First Family as they make the transition. We try to anticipate their needs rather than having the family articulate them," he added.

ANI