Can you believe that chefs to world leaders dined in a barn, sitting on benches at long wooden tables decorated with flowers in canning jars? They ate, and even raved over simple dishes like salad with red beet eggs, chicken croquettes, pot roast, mashed potatoes with brown butter, succotash, and fresh raspberries. They will take ideas back to their own countries to serve in palaces in England, Thailand, Sweden, and Monaco. The back-to-nature foods prepared in Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania, and served by Amish women and children may appear on tables in the White House, and in the homes of world leaders from Germany, Gabon, China, France, and many other nations.
It was a meeting of the Club des Chefs des Chefs, an exclusive group of chefs to world leaders. Each year they meet in a different host country. This year they came to America and first dined in Washington, Maryland, and New York before visiting the barn in East Lampeter, Pennsylvania.
My words can’t tell you all there is to this story. I’ve attached a link of a video and a slide show of the meal in progress, plus the newspaper write-up. (It’s here.)
Does this story that includes the chef to our president make you think of mystery books? It does me—but then practically everything makes me think of a good mystery read. In fact, this article makes me think of two series, and I just happen to have a few of those books in my library.
You have to know that one series is the White House Chef Mysteries by Julie Hyzy. When Buffalo West Wing was published in 2011, Olivia Paras is billed was the first female head White House chef. Of course the plot involved a supply of the presidential children’s favorite—spicy Buffalo wings. And Olivia gets in Dutch because she won’t let the kids touch the wings.
Speaking of Dutch, the Amish people mentioned in the article reminds me of more mysteries. They are the books included in the Pennsylvania Dutch series by Tamar Myers. One of her titles is The Crepes of Wrath. Magdalena Yoder discovers that a bad batch of crepes can lead to murder. There are several crepes recipes included, not one of them is fatal. Magdalena is not Amish, but of another plain sect. (“Plain” is the term some use, and to the “English” as the Amish call others, “plain” can refer to Amish, Mennonite, and others.)
I page through recipes in mystery books and get ideas (I’m often an innovative cook). Both series include recipes. My own mysteries include people who love food, love to talk about it, love to prepare and eat it, but I haven’t added recipes in the pages of my books. I’ve tried another approach. I place recipes and pictures on my website along with an excerpt from the scene that presented the dish. (Those recipes are here.)
Do you like mysteries that include recipes? I’d love to see your comments about food in mysteries, or your favorite series. (I love to find series new to me!)