--- title: Obama's Staff Tells Team Trump What to Eat at White House description: Hint: The answer involves tacos canonical: https://time.com/4631954/obama-white-house-food/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-12T11:30:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:36:19.683Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama's Staff Shares What to Eat at the White House og:description: Hint: The answer involves tacos og:url: https://time.com/4631954/obama-white-house-food/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf9cfa6dc44f058/6988b541e20a876ff4a93b92/obama-thanksgiving-dinner-white-house-chef.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: obama-thanksgiving-dinner-white-house-chef og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama's Staff Shares What to Eat at the White House twitter:description: Hint: The answer involves tacos twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf9cfa6dc44f058/6988b541e20a876ff4a93b92/obama-thanksgiving-dinner-white-house-chef.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Staff Tell Team Trump What to Eat at the White House > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Jan 12, 2017 11:30 AM UTC  President Barack Obama fist bumps Executive Pastry Chef Susie Morrison after sampling pies with First Lady Michelle Obama, ABC News Anchor Robin Roberts and Executive Chef Cris Comerford during an interview about Thanksgiving in the White House Kitchen, Nov. 19, 2014. President Barack Obama fist bumps Executive Pastry Chef Susie Morrison after sampling pies with First Lady Michelle Obama, ABC News Anchor Robin Roberts and Executive Chef Cris Comerford during an interview about Thanksgiving in the White House Kitchen, Nov. 19, 2014. Pete Souza—The White House by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Jan 12, 2017 11:30 AM UTC One of the most important aspects of settling into any new job is assessing the snack situation. When your new job is at the White House, that task may be a little more daunting than usual. But knowing the right time to sneak away for a coffee break or the best people to ask for restaurant advice can be crucial — particularly when you’re working around the clock. Several of President Barack Obama’s White House staffers told TIME their favorite food-related pieces of advice they learned over the last eight years. As Donald Trump and his staff prepare to take over on Jan. 20, they may want to read up on these food secrets of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. **Kori Schulman, Deputy Chief Digital Officer**: Nitro coffee at the mess is a true revelation. It’s a revelation that will serve the next ­Administration well. **Brian Deese, Senior Adviser to the President**: As somebody who is a regular consumer of coffee, there is a window between 2 and 3 p.m. that the mess is closed. Most days you don’t lift your head up to think about having lunch or a cup of coffee till 2:05\. I feel like I end up most days in the dead zone between 2 and 3 p.m. You want to plan your day to not get caught in the dead zone. **Cody Keenan, Director of Speechwriting**: Wednesday is Taco Wednesday at Ike’s in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and Thursday is taco day in the mess. I’ll probably get in trouble for this: chips and _queso_ are not on the mess menu, but if you ask for them they will make it for you. To read more words of advice from Obama’s White House team to Donald Trump’s incoming advisers, see [the full story here](http://time.com/white-house-interviews/), or pick up a copy of the latest issue of TIME magazine. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4631954/obama-white-house-food/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4631954/obama-white-house-food/"},"headline":"Obama Staff Tell Team Trump What to Eat at the White House","datePublished":"2017-01-12T11:30:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:36:19.683Z","description":"Hint: The answer involves tacos","url":"https://time.com/4631954/obama-white-house-food/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf9cfa6dc44f058/6988b541e20a876ff4a93b92/obama-thanksgiving-dinner-white-house-chef.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf9cfa6dc44f058/6988b541e20a876ff4a93b92/obama-thanksgiving-dinner-white-house-chef.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"obama-thanksgiving-dinner-white-house-chef","caption":"obama-thanksgiving-dinner-white-house-chef","creditText":"Pete Souza—The White House","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4631954/obama-white-house-food/","name":"Obama Staff Tell Team Trump What to Eat at the White House"}}]}] ```