Former White House chef Sam Kass, who worked for the Obamas ahead of the 2008 elections and followed them to Washington, has been tapped as a senior food analyst for NBC News.
First reported in Politico, Kass, who served as White House chef from 2009 to 2014, will cover multiple topics, such as healthy eating and wellness, emerging food trends, and policy. He will appear on Today and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt in addition to penning a monthly column for TODAY Food online.
Kass is infamous for turning the Obama family against boxed macaroni and cheese brands, a detail that Michelle Obama revealed in an interview with Cooking Light earlier this year. According to the first lady, the ex-White House chef encouraged her to bar her children from consuming boxed macaroni and cheese because "cheese dust is not food."
During his time at the White House, Kass also served as executive director of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move health initiative as well as a senior policy adviser for nutrition policy.
As such, Kass played a prominent role in Michelle Obama’s campaign to slap health requirements on school lunches, the results of which have both displeased students and cost schools money.
Before departing the White House, Kass wedded MSNBC host Alex Wagner in New York last summer, a ceremony at which the Obamas were in attendance.
President Obama labeled Kass "a close friend" who left "an indelible mark on the White House" when the chef departed Washington at the end of 2014.