WASHINGTON -- If visitors to the White House want to smoke while first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is in residence, they can go outside.
The first lady revealed the smoking ban in an interview with The New York Times, which was limited to her chores as first lady.
Smoking had been banned in the White House kitchen and state rooms, but the first lady said she wants to make it a rule throughout the executive mansion. Neither she nor the president smoke and she said, 'If visitors want to smoke, they can go outdoors.'
The same edict applied to the governor's mansion in Little Rock when Bill Clinton was governor, she said.
The first lady also said that she wanted to put the accent on American meals served in the White House, instead of the traditional French cuisine of the past.
'We are big broccoli eaters,' she said, referring to the vegetable that former President George Bush detested. 'We're trying to move toward healthy American food.'
She said her husband should not be faulted for an occasional stop at a fast food eatery.
She also said that she and the president are trying to think of more innovative ways to open the White House to 'ordinary Americans.'
Since she moved into the White House, Clinton's image has been depicted as that of a woman who was not interested in the social amenities that have been in the purview of the mistress of the White House since Abigail Adams.
She told the Times that they may do 'more open houses like the one held after Inauguration Day.'
Since moving into the White House, she said that what she lacks most is sleep.
On another matter, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Clinton will reimburse the government for a trip she took from Hagerstown, Md., to Philadelphia aboard a military jet to attend a classmate's funeral Sunday.
She flew on a commercial plane to New York last week and said she will decide on a case-by-case basis her mode of transportation.
