Bush Family Cookbook

By JULIETTE ROSSANT There is a lot to digest on the cover of The Bush Family Cookbook (Scribner 2005). The book is by Ariel De Guzman, "Personal Chef and House Manager." A box reads: Favorite Recipes and Stories from One of America's Great Families with forewords from: Former President George H. W. Bush, Former First Lady Barbara Bush, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Missing, of course, is President George W. Bush's name, since he is currently in office, but above the text box is a photo of Bush 41, wife Barbara, Chef De Guzman, and other family members. The main cover photo, underneath, reveals chicken, chopped tomatoes, and sliced eggs with other garnishings -- almost an afterthought, given the prominent names displayed in the boxes. The only joy arising from The Bush Family Cookbook seems to emanate from Anti-Bush newspapers -- that is, among the few that have reviewed the it. The Independent (UK): "Bacon bits over a chicken curry, Cornflakes on a Jewish dessert - served with beef. These are among the dark culinary secrets of America's first family, brought to light in a gut-straining recipe book - and put to the test." The Village Voice: "What kind of pissant would buy this book?" The scruffier National Enquirer picked up a controversial angle on the cookbook, cited by several bloggers (Tom Flocco, Dvorak Uncensored, Subzero Blue, Rim of the World, The Huffington Post, Big Time Patriot): This week’s November 21, 2005 issue of the National Enquirer quotes the elder Bush’s personal chef Ariel De Guzman as saying Bush 43 “never leaves home without his own hefty supply of spirits,” and is protected “from poisoning by secret enemies,” since we take “cases of vodka around the world with us,” according to his new Bush Family Cookbook (Scribner). (Tom Flocco) Of course, the drinking angle was also cited by The New Republic... All this followed a New York Time Magazine article at the end of October entitled "The Dish on the Bushes" (also available online at Mezomorf), where the real story within a story lay in the chef's own lack of education and training in food (glossing over his sadly poor English): Asked why he preferred canned vegetables to fresh, Chef De Guzman answered, "As far as nutrition is concerned, canned or frozen vegetables have more nutrition than fresh vegetables. It's added from the companies, the manufacturer." (New York Times Magazine) "God bless you, Chef De Guzman!," countless of American food manufacturers must have exclaimed as they read their morning corporate press clippings. "There are still some believers!" With such claims, Superchefblog suspects he find numerous endorsement deals piling up at his feet. Someone should really mail Chef De Guzman some tickets to see Good Night, Good Luck -- or does Chef De Guzman also believe that cigarettes, too, are better for your health than, say, mountain air? In reading The Bush Family Cookbook, then, the reader may want to keep in mind the long-time American control of the Philippines and a lingering educational milieu that smacks of American beliefs from the 1950s and 1960s. Does Chef De Guzman see himself as a "serious cook"? "No, ma'am, not at all. I wouldn't know what fresh saffron looks like. I'm not into research," he told the magazine. You mean he missed the entire Food Revlution in America? Wasn't he cooking for Vice President Georget H. W. Bush when TIME Magazine's cover story on Food in America came out? Yes, he was -- that was in August 1985. All told, publisher Simon & Schuster seems to have gotten ahead of other corporations in exploiting Chef De Guzman's admitted inadequacies. Why publish a cookbook from a chef who regards himself as not even a "serious cook"? Maybe they should have named the cookbook Pulp Fiction? Video & Audio: GOP.com (video - WMP) Odeo Other Blogs: Daily Kos Huffington Post eGullet Related news: Globe & Mail (Canada) Independent (UK) Village Voice Bangor Daily News Boston Globe (AP) Houston Chronicle Birmingham News Guardian (UK) Reno Gazette-Journal Grand Forks Herald Herald News Daily Canadian press (AP) New Zealand Herald Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, cookbooks, Bush --> back to superchefblog