Filipina White House chef receives honorary degree from UP
MANILA, Philippines — White House Filipino-American executive chef Cristeta Comerford was awarded with the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by officials of the University of the Philippines (UP) on Monday.
In a Twitter post by The STAR’s Janvic Mateo, Cristeta was seen receiving her awards in a ceremony held in the state university.
LOOK: White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford being conferred with the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) by officials of the University of the Philippines. @PhilippineStar pic.twitter.com/1vWkqxMc7A
— Janvic Mateo (@jvrmateoSTAR) November 11, 2019
“White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford being conferred with the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) by officials of the University of the Philippines,” Mateo wrote.
Appointed as the first woman, first Asian and the first minority to become the White House’s executive chef, Cristeta took up Bachelor of Science in Food Technology at the UP College of Home Economics.
She, however, was unable to finish the degree because her family migrated to the US in 1983 when she was on her second year.
Before becoming the White House's executive chef in 2005, Cristeta worked in different hotels such as Sheraton and Hyatt Regency Hotel, among others. She was recruited by then White House executive chef Walter Scheib in 1995 to work in the White House under then President Bill Clinton.
Comerford is a member of Le Club de Chefs, an exclusive organization of 26 chefs of heads of state around the world that promotes culinary diplomacy, the safeguarding of culinary traditions, and healthy, well-balanced gastronomy.
