BDN interviews Dumas about his job cooking at the White House

The Bangor Daily News interviewed Rob Dumas, food science innovation coordinator at the University of Maine, about his time as a chef for the White House Navy Mess, a Navy-run dining facility in the basement of the West Wing. For the first four years of the Obama administration, Dumas cooked in the White House and traveled with the first family, according to the article. Dumas said he has fond memories of preparing breakfast in the Obamas’ Chicago residence and making a cocktail for President Obama in Rio de Janeiro. Dumas told the BDN that Michelle Obama inspired him. “It all goes back to Michelle,” he said. “She got me into reading books by Michael Pollan and Alice Waters. It opened my eyes to what a local food system could look like.”