WASHINGTON - Visiting one of his favourite Chicago restaurants in November, Barack Obama was asked by an excited waitress if he wanted the restaurant's special margarita made with the finest ingredients, straight up and shaken at the table.

"You know that's the way I roll," Obama replied jokingly.

Rick Bayless, the chef of that restaurant, Topolobampo, says Obama's comfortable demeanour at the table bodes well for America's food policy. While former President George W. Bush rarely visited restaurants and didn't often talk about what he ate, Obama dines out frequently and enjoys exploring different foods.

"He's the kind of diner who wants to taste all sorts of things," Bayless says. "What I'm hoping is that he's going to recognise that we need to do what we can in our country to encourage real food for everyone."

The country's top chefs, several of whom travelled to Washington for Obama's inauguration last week, hope that Obama's flair for good food will encourage people to expand their horizons when it comes to what they eat.

These chefs tout locally grown, environmentally friendly and - most importantly - nutritious food. They urge diners, even those who may never be able to afford to eat at their restaurants, to grow their own vegetables, shop at farmer's markets and pay attention to where their food comes from.

Dan Barber, chef at New York's popular Blue Hill restaurant and a frequent critic of US food policy, says a few small gestures from the President and First Lady Michelle Obama could accomplish what many of the chefs have been working toward for years.

"I recognise that I'm an elitist guy," says Barber. "Increasingly raise awareness, but don't do it through chefs like me. ... My advice would be more of a symbolic nature, and to not underestimate what can be done through the White House."

Barber said good food needs more publicity, and he hopes Obama and his wife will advertise what they are eating and what they are feeding their children.

Many high-end chefs like Barber believe that most food in the US is over-processed, over-subsidised and grown with no regard to the environment, making it harder for small farms to make a profit selling more natural, nutritious food.

Most of the chefs say they realise food policy and Government support for larger corporate farms won't change any time soon. Congress, with Obama's support, overwhelmingly enacted a US$290 billion farm bill last year that directs many subsidies to the largest agricultural players.

But Obama has already given chefs like Barber a small reason to hope. At his confirmation hearing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made an overture to the growing number of food groups and experts who have criticised government subsidies for large corporate farms, saying he will seek to work "with those who seek programmes and practices that lead to more nutritious food produced in a sustainable way".

Daniel Boulud, the veteran New York chef of the restaurant Daniel who has cooked for at least five former presidents, said he thinks the Department of Agriculture should form an agency that exclusively oversees small farms.

But despite loftier goals, Bayless says the Obamas could make a world of difference if they just publish what they are eating every day.

"Everyone's going to want to be like the Obamas," he said.