BY LILLY CHENG, Adrian Miller, Deborah Chang

On the President’s table, a meal is never merely about satisfying hunger. It is a stage for diplomacy, a platform for culture, and a reflection of history in motion.

Behind every dish lies the context of its era and the memory of identity; with every toast and exchange of pleasantries, the course of international relations may subtly shift. In the kitchens behind the scenes, chefs from around the world gather — among them, naturally, figures from Chinese and broader Asian communities.

In May 2025, Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History: Cooking to the President’s Taste, co-authored by Adrian Miller and Deborah Chang, was officially published. The book offers a systematic and comprehensive account of more than a century of Asian chefs who have served in the White House — from state banquets to the presidential yacht and vacation residences. It also recreates and adapts 60 recipes for the modern home cook, unveiling the long-overlooked history and culinary contributions of Chinese and other Asian chefs who worked beneath the American presidency.

Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History: Cooking to the President’s Taste

｜The Inspiration Behind the Book: A Forgotten 1939 Cookbook — Book Introduction

   The birth of this book began with a serendipitous discovery.

    In 2015, while researching African American presidential chefs, Miller typed the keyword "presidential cook" and came across a 1939 memoir cookbook — To a President's Taste: Being the Reminiscences and Recipes of Lee Ping Quan by Lee Ping Quan.

    Miller described it: “I almost jumped out of my chair. This is the most detailed memoir of a presidential chef I’ve ever seen.”

   Lee Ping Quan once served on the presidential yacht USS Mayflower, cooking for Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. Yet, this history had long been forgotten. Miller initially wanted to reprint the book but was repeatedly turned down by publishers. It wasn't until he reached out to the White House Historical Association that they suggested expanding the story into a more comprehensive account of Asian heritage White House chefs, opening the door for further discussion.

｜ Some of the Chefs Featured in the Book:

• Ah Loy – Chinese-born chef who served President Theodore Roosevelt on the USS Mayflower.
• Anita Lo – A first-generation Chinese-American, Chef Lo was the guest chef for the State Dinner hosted by President and Mrs. Barack Obama for a Chinese delegation in 2015.
• Chef Lee Ping Quan – He served Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge on the USS Mayflower.
• Chef Cristeta Comerford – Born in Manila, Philippines, she came to the White House in 1995 and served 10 years as assistant chef before becoming the first woman to serve as White House Executive Chef in 2005, a position she retired from in 2024.
• Susan Limb – Born in the United States to South Korean parents, Chef Limb served as a pastry chef by agreement in the White House from 1998 to 2005. She now co-owns a bakery in Bethesda, Maryland.
• Tommy Kurpradit – Of Thai descent, Chef Kurpradit joined the White House Kitchen in 2005. He is currently the acting White House Executive Chef.

About Adrian Miller

He is a James Beard Award-winning culinary author, professional speaker, certified barbecue judge, and recovering attorney whose work has reshaped national conversations around food, race, and American history. Based in Denver, Colorado, he is widely regarded for bringing scholarly rigor, cultural insight, and personal warmth to the study of African American foodways and the cooks whose labor has shaped the nation’s table.

Miller’s journey into culinary history is rooted in an academic and professional path that seemed, at first, far removed from the kitchen. He graduated from Stanford University in 1991 with an A.B. in International Relations, followed by a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995. After law school, Miller’s early career placed him at the intersection of public policy and social justice. From 1999 to 2001, he served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton with the Initiative for One America – the first dedicated White House office focused on advancing racial, religious, and ethnic reconciliation. He later continued his policy work as a senior policy analyst for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr., deepening his engagement with issues of equity across communities.

While policy shaped his early career, food became the lens through which Miller would ultimately make his most significant cultural contributions. In the early 2000s, he joined the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance, where he began building the scholarly foundation that would later define his authorship. His tenure there not only expanded his understanding of Southern and African American culinary traditions but also positioned him within a broader movement to document stories long overlooked in mainstream food history.

Miller’s growing reputation as a food historian led him to international lecturing opportunities, including a 2019 appointment to teach in the Masters of Gastronomy program at the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche – affectionately known as the “Slow Food University” – in Pollenzo, Italy. His work has since become a model for how culinary scholarship can illuminate cultural identity, resilience, and innovation.

Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine 

His first book. Soul Food, set the tone for the depth and heart of his future projects. The book earned the 2014 James Beard Foundation Award for Scholarship and Reference and established him as an essential voice in documenting African American culinary traditions. 

The President's Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas

This book was published on Presidents’ Day 2017. This work brought national attention to centuries of African American cooks whose contributions had been undervalued or forgotten. The book was recognized as a finalist for both a 2018 NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction” and the 2018 Colorado Book Award for History.

Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue

Miller’s third book, continued his mission to reclaim and elevate Black culinary legacies. The book won the 2022 James Beard Award for Reference, History, and Scholarship, along with the 2022 Colorado Book Award for History, cementing his reputation as one of the nation’s foremost scholars on African American food history. In each of these works, Miller combines meticulous research with vivid storytelling, offering readers a nuanced understanding of both the triumphs and challenges inherent in America’s culinary evolution.

Cooking to the President’s Taste: Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History

Miller’s most recent book, published in May 2025 by the White House Historical Association, expands his presidential food scholarship in a groundbreaking new direction. The book uncovers the largely forgotten stories of Asian heritage chefs – immigrants and Asian Americans, mostly from China, Japan, and the Philippines – who shaped presidential cuisine beginning at the turn of the twentieth century. Featuring sixty dishes ranging from everyday presidential favorites to complete state dinner menus, the book offers readers an intimate look at the intersection of cuisine, culture, and politics – and the chefs whose work enriched the nation’s culinary heritage. Cooking to the President’s Taste has been widely celebrated, earning the bronze medal for General Cookbooks from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, the NYC Big Book Award for International Cookbooks, and two 2025 Best Book Awards from American Book Fest in both the General and Regional Cookbook categories.

Beyond His Published Works

Miller’s leadership extends into the cultural and nonprofit sectors. He currently serves as the executive director of the Colorado Council of Churches, becoming both the first African American and the first layperson to hold the position. In 2018, the Southern Foodways Alliance honored him with the Ruth Fertel “Keeper of the Flame Award” for his contributions to African American foodways. The following year, Wartburg College presented him with the Judge Henry N. and Helen T. Graven Award for embodying “a strong sense of Christian calling” in service to community and society. In 2022, the Denver Institute for Urban Studies and Adult College awarded him an honorary doctorate for his cultural leadership and literary excellence.

Miller has also played a significant role in public history projects. Most recently, he served as co-project director and lead curator for Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History, a landmark exhibit that premiered at the Museum of Boulder from 2024 through September 2025. The exhibit weaves together narratives of Black Coloradans whose experiences have shaped the state’s cultural, political, and social landscape. Its success has led to a second installation at the Pueblo History Museum, opening in January 2026.

About Deborah Chang

She is a former attorney, writer, professional chef, tech executive, and most recently, a career counselor,  who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. he was born and raised in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, where she wondered why almond chicken was the most popular dish at her parent’s restaurant, Dragon Inn.  She was a double major at Stanford University, receiving an A.B. in Economics and Feminist Studies in 1991.  Her Honors Thesis was on Asian American Women’s Organizations.

She received a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1994.  She spent the majority of her legal career at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati as a corporate securities attorney during the first dot.com boom where she represented companies in their venture financings, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings.  She decided to take a break from being a lawyer, and from there she went on to graduate from the Napa Valley Culinary School, cooked at numerous Bay Area restaurants, started her own catering company and created award winning recipes for Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt and the National Peanut Board. She also appeared on In Wine Country, a program on network television that ran for 9 seasons, that focused on the food and wine of Napa Valley.  She began an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Warren Wilson College, but was interrupted by the birth of the first of her two daughters.  She was fortunate enough to have her essays published in various outlets, including the San Francisco Chronicle.  She was lured back into law doing Mergers and Acquisitions at Applied Materials and general corporate law work at Shutterfly.  She found that she enjoyed the business of personalized photos and cards, so she transitioned into business development at Shutterfly.  She continued to successfully grow companies in tech as an executive at HackerOne, a cybersecurity start-up, and MassDrop, an e-commerce platform. Most recently, she was a career counselor at University of San Francisco Law School, where she enjoyed guiding the next generation of lawyers and giving back to the legal community.

Cooking to the President’s Taste: Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History, is Deborah’s first book where she brought her culinary skills and recipe testing abilities to the book by testing and writing 60 recipes.  Various parts of her life converged in the making of this book, as her co-author, Adrian Miller, is a friend from college, and she enlisted Chef Scot Rice, a friend of hers from Napa Valley Culinary School, and the lead Culinary Instructor of Florin High School’s culinary program, to help with the recipe testing.  The most rewarding part of this project for Deborah was the ability to work with the students of Florin High School’s culinary program, as they brought youthful excitement and enthusiasm to the project, while learning about culinary history and pathways.  She is grateful for the opportunity to highlight this unique window into Asian American’s contributions to and leadership in American history with this book.

► Could you share a bit more about your feelings toward the Almond Chicken dish?

Almond chicken was the most popular dish at my parent's restaurant. That's why I remember it so well. We didn't have the restaurant for very long; I think a couple of years, if even, during early high school. It was the only time I remember the entire restaurant being entirely full. I remember my father coming out of the kitchen and walking towards the front of the restaurant really happy, a big smile on his face, full of joy and excitement. I remember him clapping his hands. That's the image that sticks with me the most after all of these years.

I thought Almond Chicken was odd, but it tasted good. It was odd because it was so different from the Chinese food we ate at home. Almond Chicken is battered and fried, and fried as a whole breast of chicken. Then it's sliced diagonally, drizzled with gravy, and sprinkled with toasted sliced almonds and green onions. Our Chinese food at home was very rarely deep fried and battered, and meats were usually stir-fried cubes. A current Google search did turn up some information about the dish, which is fascinating! It is a regional dish, unique to Detroit, and it is indeed popular. It is Cantonese in origin (War She Gai), and no one seems to know who invented it. Others remember it and give it a couple of names, like Almond Boneless Chicken, Detroit style, or just ABC. There are YouTube videos on it, like from the Detroit Free Press, and America's Test Kitchen has a walkthrough of it, though they add beer to the batter, and I don't remember there being beer in our batter. I don't remember beds of lettuce or mushrooms, like some of the recipes online include. Now that I know how unique it is, it makes me proud and special, like I'm part of a secret society. I have not seen it at all in my food travels and in SF, and you can still get it in Detroit, apparently, as there are some Chinese restaurant reviews and recommendations online.