above: Master Chief Petty Officer
Michael Carter, CEC, spent seven
years cooking for President
George W. Bush and the first
family as part of the Navy’s
Presidential Foodservice staff.
when they come in for lunch
they will have great-tasting
food is good for morale. It’s
something to look forward
to each day.”
For Ellen Adams, CC, who is
retired from the Air Force and
now a personal chef, joining
the military opened doors. “I’m
the youngest of six children
and grew up in northern New
Hampshire. My parents both
worked, and we never traveled.
I always had a desire to see the
world. When I joined, the job
market was not great, much
like it is now. The military
guaranteed me a job, and it
was an opportunity to see new
places, from Europe to Iraq.”
cooking for
the president
Perhaps one of the most coveted
military foodservice positions
is to serve on the Presidential
Foodservice staff at the White
House, as Master Chief Petty
Officer Michael Carter , CEC,
did. Carter, who has been in the
Navy since 1993 and served as
a chef at the White House from
2002 to 2009, says the Navy has
run the White House kitchen
since 1951.
“When I joined the Navy, I
had every intention of being a
chef,” says Carter. “I attended
boot camp, then enrolled in a
culinary program. I then worked
on a ship and was a cook for a
commanding officer.”
At the White House, Carter
was part of a 16-member
team that prepared 325 meals
a day for President George
W. Bush, his cabinet, Vice
President Dick Cheney and
senior staff members.
“Our mission was to provide
24/7 service to the president
and the first family, including
traveling extensively with him
and providing food security
duties, as well,” says Carter.
On average, Carter worked 14-
hour days, six or seven days a
week, he says. The job provided
opportunities to travel the world.
According to Carter, only a
select group representing the
Navy’s best and most responsible
can qualify for the Presidential
Foodservice staff.
One of Carter’s accomplishments
while serving on the White
House team was to improve
training. In 2004, he brought
in David Bearl, CCC, CCE,
AAC, coordinator for business
and industry services at First
Coast Technical College in St.
Augustine, Fla., to conduct
training courses and American
Culinary Federation (ACF)
certification exams on-site for
chefs, which allowed more
