The Kitchen Garden was planted in the spring of 2009 by First Lady Michelle Obama with the help of students from a local elementary school. The first kitchen garden on White House grounds since First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden during World War II inspired the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to raise a healthier generation of kids.

White House chefs use produce from the garden for preparing meals for the First Family, as well as for official functions like state dinners. Some produce is donated to Miriam’s Kitchen, a local homeless shelter providing services and homemade meals, a soup kitchen near the White House.