Cristeta Pasia-Comerford team-up with the ‚ÄúEarly Show‚Äù resident chef Bobby Flay defeating the renowned chefs Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali in the Iron Chef America last Sunday night in the Food Network. In the Iron Chef challenge, Flay and Pasia-Comerford used Japanese eggplant and sweet potatoes — personally recommended by Michelle Obama — for their winning dish. Flay and Pasia-Comerford defeated Lagasse and Batali by just five points.

Cristeta Pasia-Comerford was born in Sampaloc, Manila. She completed her secondary education at the Manila Science High School. She attended the University of the Philippines, Diliman in Quezon City and majored in food technology. However, she did not earn her degree as she left school to immigrate to the United States.

The 47-year old Filipina Chef has been the White House Executive Chef since 2005. Comerford was recruited by executive chef Walter Scheib III in 1995 to work in the Clinton White House. When Scheib resigned as executive chef in February 2005, Cristeta was appointed by First Lady Laura Bush on August 14, 2005 as the White House Executive Chef. On January 9, 2009, the Obama transition team announced that Comerford would be retained as the administration’s head chef.

She is the first female White House Executive Chef and the first person of ethnic minority origin to hold this position.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 8:38 am and is filed under Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.