Roland Mesnier is a French-American pastry chef and culinary writer. His creations during his twenty five years as Executive Pastry Chef at the White House earned him the reputation of a creative genius. Mesnier was born into a family of nine children in the village of Bonnay, France. He first became interested in becoming a chef when he visited his brother's pastry shop in a nearby city and was delighted by the smell of fresh fruit in the kitchen. His mother secured an apprenticeship for him when he was fourteen at a pastry shop in Besan�on. He would work from 6am to 8pm six days a week and in exchange received 300 francs a month, plus room and board, in addition to cooking lessons. Like most young apprentices, Mesnier was only given menial tasks, such as grocery shopping at first to see if he were truly interested in learning the profession. Mesnier stayed on and eventually was taught how to make cakes, croissants, and brioche. He also was first exposed to puff pastry and chocolate molding which laid the groundwork for his future specialties. At 17 he passed his apprenticeship exam and began to look for work that would both enhance his skills and his reputation. [More at Wikipedia]

July 8th, 1944 in Bonnay  /  Died:   Aug 26th, 2022