When chef Meherwan Irani, a James Beard Award winner, envisions a White House led by Kamala Harris, he imagines something as distinct as the aroma of spices — cardamom, ginger, and a whisper of clove — drifting from the presidential kitchen. Should Harris be elected, she would be the first South Asian American to reside in the executive mansion, and her intimate understanding of Indian cuisine may well leave a mark on what emerges from its kitchens. “If she’s in the White House, let there be samosas and let the chai flow freely,” Irani mused.
Irani was among more than 60 chefs and culinary luminaries — including Tom Colicchio, Carla Hall, José Andrés, Cat Cora and Gail Simmons — who joined forces in late August for “Cooking for Kamala,” a virtual event organized by California Congressman Eric Swalwell, a close friend of Harris. Billed as an online gathering of “the best chefs in the world,” the livestream aimed to highlight Harris’s campaign while also celebrating food.
Amid lighthearted nods to the culinary moments that have already defined the Harris-Walz campaign — from chef Susan Feniger’s play on Tim Walz’s “white guy tacos” to her “Straight from the Coconut Tree” cookies — the event struck a more serious tone when food writer Ruth Reichl shared her thoughts. “People who care about food have been waiting our whole lives to have someone who is a cook in the White House,” she said.
While chefs, like any professional group, are far from monolithic in their political views, there is a notable resonance between the culinary world and the Harris-Walz ticket. The question is: Why? What has turned this campaign into one that not only courts chefs but seems to capture their enthusiasm in a way that other campaigns have not?
One of the campaign’s most compelling appeals to the culinary world is its alignment with key issues that resonate deeply within the industry: hunger, immigration, labor rights and food prices.
On the issue of hunger, Harris has long been an advocate for expanding food access. In 2020, as the pandemic upended the economy, Harris, alongside Senators Elizabeth Warren, Mazie Hirono, and Christopher Murphy, pressed then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to reconsider the blanket rejection of state waiver requests aimed at preserving college students’ eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after losing their jobs due to COVID-19.
A month later, in May 2020, Harris co-sponsored the Closing the Meal Gap Act, which sought to bolster SNAP benefits during the pandemic. “We are in the midst of a historic economic crisis — people are hurting,” Harris wrote. “They are struggling to put food on the table, and existing nutrition benefits don’t get people through the end of the month… No one in America should ever go hungry, especially during a public health crisis.”
Her efforts — and the efforts of her husband, Doug Emhoff — have not gone unnoticed by chefs. “I want to give a shout-out to the second gentleman, soon to be the first gentleman,” said longtime “Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio during the “Cooking for Kamala” event. “He has made one of his platforms to end hunger in this country. We can do that. Chefs really care about this issue.”
Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, has also drawn attention from the food community for his leadership in Minnesota. As governor, Walz signed legislation making his state the fourth in the nation to provide free breakfast and lunch to students. “This is one piece of the puzzle in reducing both childhood poverty and food insecurity,” Walz remarked when discussing the new law.
During the livestream, Chef José Andrés summed up the sentiment of many in the culinary world: “When you have a leader who understands the power of feeding one another — that’s real power. That’s the power to build longer tables.”
While some participants in the “Cooking for Kamala” event tend to keep a lower political profile (Giada De Laurentiis, who endorsed Harris during the call, comes to mind), chef José Andrés has long been an outspoken critic of Harris’s opponent, former President Donald Trump, primarily in response to Trump’s inflammatory comments about immigrants.
Immigrants play a pivotal role in the American food system, from the fields to the kitchen. According to the National Restaurant Association, approximately 23% of restaurant workers are foreign-born, as are nearly half of the nation’s farm laborers.
Trump’s campaign launch in 2015 marked a turning point for many in the food world. In his speech, Trump described Mexican immigrants in incendiary terms: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems… They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.”
“When you have a leader who understands the power of feeding one another — that’s real power. That’s the power to build longer tables.”
For Andrés, who emigrated from Spain and became a U.S. citizen, these remarks were intolerable. He withdrew his planned restaurant from Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel, stating: “Donald Trump’s recent statements disparaging immigrants make it impossible for my company and I to move forward. More than half of my team is Hispanic, as are many of our guests. And, as a proud Spanish immigrant and recently naturalized American citizen myself, I believe that every human being deserves respect, regardless of immigration status.”
Harris’s own story, as the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, resonates with many in the food industry, including chef Marcus Samuelsson, who called into “Cooking for Kamala” from Miami. “Just by being an immigrant… listening to Kamala’s story and her mother’s and her parents’ stories, for me, it’s personal and very inspirational,” Samuelsson said.
Meanwhile, labor advocates within the food sector have voiced strong support for Kamala Harris’s potential presidential campaign, with United Farm Workers (UFW) president Teresa Romero leading the charge. In a recent statement, Romero praised the Biden-Harris administration for championing farm workers’ rights, highlighting their efforts to strengthen union protections, secure COVID-19 relief for undocumented workers, and propose federal standards to protect laborers from extreme heat.
“The Biden-Harris administration has worked tirelessly on behalf of farm workers,” Romero said, describing Biden as “the greatest the United Farm Workers has had in the Oval Office.” Now, the UFW is endorsing Harris as the “best leader to defeat Donald Trump” and continue the administration’s work. Romero underscored Harris’s long-standing relationship with the UFW, from joining farm worker marches to supporting legislative efforts aimed at protecting wages.
“Listening to Kamala’s story and her mother’s and her parents’ stories, for me, it’s personal and very inspirational.”
Off the farm, Harris’s broader labor record presents a more complex picture. In 2019, she joined striking McDonald’s workers to advocate for a $15 minimum wage — though her decision not to overrule the Senate parliamentarian on a provision to raise the minimum wage during COVID-19 relief negotiations frustrated some progressives. Still, Harris’s support for unions has been a consistent theme in her political career, which could help her gain further backing from service workers.
Plus, there’s also the fact that Harris herself has worked in the minimum-wage service industry; Harris’ campaign says the nominee worked at a McDonald’s in California in 1983 (though the Trump campaign is apparently asking for proof).
Beyond policies, part of Harris’ appeal to chefs is, of course, the fact that she is actually a pretty great cook. In her short-lived YouTube series “Cooking with Kamala,” the vice president cooked alongside celebrities and cultural figures like Mindy Kaling, who joined Harris to make masala dosa, and former First Lady Michelle Obama, who prepared a family recipe while discussing public health and nutrition.
Her roast chicken technique has gone viral, as has her collard greens recipe, which she makes using sliced garlic, chili peppers, a lot of water, some chicken stock, vinegar and Tabasco. The real secret, though, is rendered bacon fat, which is unsurprising since Harris has said before she thinks “bacon is a spice.”
While not everyone on the “Cooking for Kamala” call agreed with that assertion (longtime “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi, who co-hosted the event, said she was “doubtful”), everyone seemed to agree the Harris-Walz ticket was better than the alternative. After all, some normalcy seems to be what everyone is craving.
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