Five American Presidents and One Swiss Chef

A Conversation With Former White House Executive Chef Henry Haller

October 21, 2015

We are an incredibly fortunate bunch here at AUI. Not only do we get to experiment with the most cutting edge pastry ingredients and taste test delectable gourmet treats, but we also have the amazing opportunity to meet with some of the most talented and renowned chefs in the business. Today, we would like to take a moment to acquaint you with one these amazing chefs, who just happened to be a close friend and Swiss countryman of our founder, Albert Uster. We recently had the great pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Chef Henry Haller, White House Executive Chef from 1966 to 1987. And what better time to discover what it was like to work for the leader of the free world, than in the throes of the upcoming 2016 election? 

Haller served five American Presidents during his tenure at the White House: Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan. He was recruited to the White House by Lyndon B. Johnson himself, who had previously tasted Haller’s food while he was working as the Executive Chef of the Sheraton East Hotel in New York City. “There was a security clearance after he was hired. We saw guys in black suits walking around the neighborhood asking questions about us,” his wife Carol Haller recalled. 

From left to right: Chef Henry Haller, Anita Dahinden (wife of the Swiss Ambassador to the United States), Philipp Braun (CEO of AUI Fine Foods), and Carol Haller

On February 1, 1966, Chef Haller presented for his first day on the job, bright-eyed and ready to cook up a storm in the three kitchens that he oversaw. He worked a lot with the First Ladies and always invited their input on weekly menus, big dinners, and large events. “A good Swiss is a good negotiator,” he said. “I would make a menu suggestion, would you like this? The previous chef would just say, ‘I’m serving this.’ They didn’t like that.” He specifically recalls working with Mrs. Carter a lot on menus, who he described as very nice and down to earth. “Mrs. Carter said they had to pay for their food, and she said that the prices were getting too high. I told her that we’re in Washington, DC, not Plains, Georgia. She said ‘We’re not going to eat if it keeps costing this much!’” Even when you’re leading a country, you still have to watch your wallet. “The Carters wanted to live like the average American would. They always had fried chicken on Thursdays.” You can take the President out of Georgia, but you can’t take Georgia out of the President. 

Haller made an extra effort to ensure that the President always had all the comforts of home when it came to the kitchen. He even helped to satisfy his guilty pleasures. “When Reagan’s wife was out of town visiting her mother, I would serve him food that he really loved. Food that his wife didn’t want him to eat. He really enjoyed that.” 

Apparently, no other President appreciated food like President Nixon. “Nixon loved food, and he knew a lot about it.” You can imagine how Chef Haller felt on Nixon’s last day in office, when the resigning President came to him in the kitchen, barefoot and in his pajamas, and said, “Chef, I’ve eaten all around the world, and your food is the best.” 

Do you think this lawn is big enough to hold hundreds of platters of seafood?

With a small staff of just eight people, large banquets presented a special challenge. The Camp David Accords was one event that Chef Haller recalled in detail. He had one week to prepare and cook dinner for 1,300 people on the South Lawn of the White House. Imagine putting together a dinner over a thousand people with just three small kitchens! Haller recalls, “We were serving roast beef, and we only had four ovens. So we had to go to the Mayflower Hotel and roast them there.” Haller divided the dinner between him and his sous chef, each overseeing the food preparation for 650 people. “We had these large seafood platters set up for ten people each, and that was the first course. There were 130 platters, and we put them in two refrigerated trucks overnight on the South Lawn.” Haller prepared two especially large dinners like this during his time at the White House. Nowadays, the largest dinners that Haller oversees are his family holiday dinners for fourteen, which we can assume feels like a cake walk compared to 1,300. 

What do you think might be the biggest challenges a White House chef would face? Please drop us a line at PastryTeam@auifinefoods.com or connect with us at our Facebook page. Many thanks to Chef Haller for taking the time to sit down and chat with us!

About the Author  

Danielle Romano graduated from Towson University with a degree in English Literature and Writing. Since then she has put her knowledge of grammar and syntax to good use, working as an intern and freelance editor for a multitude of magazines and online newspapers. Danielle has also worked in the medical field for a number of years, but recently left medicine behind to join AUI as an Executive Assistant; she claims she did it for the chocolate.