Roland Mesnier, the French-born longtime pastry chef on the White Home whose whimsical confections served 5 American presidents, has died at age 78, kin instructed AFP Sunday.
The culinary grasp — who joined the presidential mansion’s workers in 1979 underneath Jimmy Carter and labored there till his 2004 retirement throughout George W. Bush’s tenure — died Friday within the US state of Virginia, his son George and older sister Genevieve Guyez Mesnier stated.
“I’ve such fond reminiscences of Chef Mesnier,” former first woman Hillary Clinton stated Saturday in a Twitter submit.
“He liked making folks smile together with his stunning creations, together with his well-known gingerbread homes at Christmas,” she added. “He will likely be missed!”
Mesnier, a French citizen who turned a naturalized American, served as White Home government pastry chef for 25 years.
“His ardour, dedication, and love for his work will all the time be remembered,” the Ronald Reagan Presidential Basis and Institute stated.
Mesnier was born in Bonnay, a small village in jap France, right into a modest household of 9 youngsters. After serving his apprenticeship within the close by metropolis of Besancon, he labored in massive accommodations in Germany, Britain and Bermuda earlier than the Carters employed him.
After hanging up his white hat and chef’s jacket, he revealed a number of books and spoke extensively about his White Home expertise.
– Anecdotes –
In a 2013 tv interview he recounted that Rosalynn Carter had requested him what he deliberate to prepare dinner within the kitchens of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue ought to he be employed.
A lot of low-calorie desserts, he replied. “Mrs Carter was a really fairly woman, very slim, so I (thought to myself) this can be a trick query.”
His reply was the suitable one, he figured, “as a result of she stated to her secretary: ‘That is the man I need and I need him as quickly as doable.’”
Mesnier was additionally identified to dish in regards to the culinary proclivities of the presidents and their households, to whom he served a broad array of fruit pies, wedding ceremony desserts, souffles and cookies.
George W. Bush was a lover of pecan ice cream and “essentially the most impatient man I’ve ever seen,” whereas Nancy Reagan was a “complete perfectionist,” he stated.
Invoice Clinton was allergic “to sugar, flour and chocolate” however however an enormous dessert fan, in accordance with Mesnier. So the chef struggled to give you recipes that glad the president’s candy tooth with out the offending substances.
And whereas he expressed deep fondness for the Carters, he cringed in recalling a recipe the primary woman introduced from Georgia: a hoop of sticky cheeses combined with anchovies, with strawberry jam within the heart.
“Mrs Carter all the time checked if the factor was on the desk,” he stated. “It was, however no one ever touched it.”
Upon his 2004 retirement, Mesnier, who was married to an American, instructed AFP he had been torn between his adoptive nation and his homeland the earlier 12 months when tensions spiked over France’s refusal to assist Bush’s struggle in Iraq, which led some People to rename french fries “freedom fries.”
“It saddened me quite a bit,” Mesnier stated. “I’m nonetheless a French patriot at coronary heart, and an American on the similar time.”
