The White House top pastry chef is saying goodbye to the Obamas and is moving on to a new culinary endeavor. Bill Yosses said it will be a “bittersweet” departure, but it will provide an opportunity for him to form “a group and foundation of like-minded creative people” promoting delicious and healthy food.
Some have speculated that Yosses wanted to sever ties with his government gig based on First Lady Michelle’s campaign against sweet and rich foods. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Yosses has had enough of First Lady Michelle Obama’s efforts to focus on healthier food, and that is why he is resigning. “First it was replacing the butter. Then the sugar,” wrote the Times. “I don’t want to demonize cream, butter, sugar, and eggs,” Yosses said.
Yosses has had to improvise in coming up with substitutions for various dishes to accommodate the Obamas. Mr. Yosses began trying new concoctions other than what he called “the usual blitzkrieg” of butter and cream. Now, he said, “we replace butter with fruit purée, which gives some body.”
Chef Yosses, 60, will be heading to New York to join his husband, Charlie Jandusay Fabella Jr., a teacher. The chef and Charlie married in 2011. Yosses explained that “for the eleven years my husband and I have known each other, we have lived in different cities.”
The First Chef says that President Obama called him the Crustmaster for his acumen in pie crusts. “For Thanksgiving, it is five or six different pies,” he said.
First Lady Laura Bush hired Yosses in 2007, and it is unclear what type of chef First Lady Michelle will hire to replace him. According to the Washington Post, Yosses’s successor has yet to be selected. We will find out soon whether she will choose a chef with a traditional French background like Yosses or one with more of the lean-style cuisine, more in line with Michelle Obama’s well known tastes.
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