The White House Goes Plant-Based By Default: Chef Nina Curtis’ Journey to Culinary Diplomacy
On June 22, 2023, the White House made history by hosting the first default plant-based State Dinner in honor of visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a strict vegetarian. Chef Nina Curtis, in collaboration with White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford and Executive Pastry Chef Susan Morrison, curated a menu celebrating American and Indian cuisine. The three-course plant-based dinner featured flavors like mango, rose water, and coconut, offering a unique cultural cuisine experience for the 400 White House guests. All guests were served plant-based entrees and, if desired, could request fish as an additional topping to the second course entree.
We sat down with Chef Nina to discuss her process in curating the menu and her work in culinary diplomacy.
Chef Nina worked her way up from fast food restaurants and ice cream shops, to private chef gigs, to her current positions as a member of the James Beard Foundation and the American Culinary Corps, and the Director and Executive Chef for Plantish. Curating the State Dinner is just one accomplishment to add to her already-long list.
Her culinary journey began at home, where she was surrounded by a family immersed in the world of food. Her father’s profession as a skilled chef and her mother’s culinary talents laid the foundation for her passion. During her career as a professional bodybuilder, Chef Nina experienced transformative health benefits from a whole food plant-based lifestyle, and she decided to share her love for plant-based meals with her community. Her father still tells her, “Stop talking about all the health benefits, just make it delicious, let people like it, and people will come towards you.” Chef Nina put her father’s words and her ethics into practice and now uses her plant-based expertise not only to tantalize taste buds but also to foster cultural understanding and inclusivity. With a passion for both plant-based cuisine and culinary diplomacy, Chef Nina has become a trailblazer in the culinary world.
At the heart of Chef Nina's menus lies the concept of "culinary diplomacy." Just like political and social diplomacy, culinary diplomacy employs food as a medium to showcase cultures, foster connections, and promote inclusivity. Food communicates beyond words, subtly revealing who is included and acknowledged in any gathering. Chef Nina believes that plant-based dishes, in particular, serve as a bridge to understanding, as they have the ability to highlight culinary traditions from various cultures around the world. As she notes, “It’s very important to practice culinary diplomacy because if you travel to different countries and cultures, there is so much produce. Vegetables, fruits, grains, pulses, have always been the backbone.” Employing plant-based meals as the default choice fosters an atmosphere of inclusivity. The plant-based dishes open the door for conversation and mutual understanding, as they possess the capacity to showcase culinary traditions spanning diverse cultures across the globe.
In order to create a meaningful experience for the White House State Dinner guests, Chef Nina intentionally integrated Indian spices and flavors into the menu, and placed edible flowers in the colors of the Indian and American flags intertwined throughout the dishes. She emphasizes the visual representations of food to express cultural connections and build bridges of understanding, “Food diplomacy is nonverbal. The subtleties are so powerful.”
Chef Nina believes institutions serving food can be doing more to provide sustainable, delicious, inclusive meals for everyone. “For institutions I don’t have any other advice but do it! Vegan food is food. I’m labeled as a plant-based chef, a black chef, a black female chef. If we can dispel the labels and focus on real food, productivity, decreased food waste, lower cost, we can begin to change the world.”
Her experience cooking plant-based meals for non-veg audiences has made a great impact on her work. She notes, “Vegan food is perceived as something that is so foreign to us, yet I can point out to anyone that I serve just how much vegan food they eat.” She believes it is her professional and moral obligation to make delicious, nutritious, plant-based cuisine accessible and enjoyable to all audiences. “With plants the variety is endless. I can take 365 days, serve you 3 times a day, and never serve you the same thing twice. There’s that vast a supply and variety in what we can do with plants.
Chef Nina’s work is a testament to the power of combining passion, tradition, and innovation. She showcases the richness of cultures and helps build bridges and connections through her dedication to culinary diplomacy. As she dispels labels and advocates for plant-based cuisine in all settings, Chef Nina sets an inspiring example for the culinary world and beyond. Plant-based defaults can help bring people and cultures together, and they are befitting for all events and institutions. We applaud the exemplary initiative set forth by the White House and Chef Nina.