Longtime White House Pastry Chef to Discuss Techniques and Reveal Secrets at Hudson County Community College

“It is because the HCCC Culinary Arts Institute is recognized as one of the nation’s finest programs that we are able to afford our students unique opportunities to meet and engage with world-acclaimed members of the culinary industry,” Dr. Reber stated.

Mesnier’s opportunity of a lifetime came about in 1979 when First Lady Rosalyn Carter initiated a nationwide search for the perfect candidate to develop White House dessert menus. Over the next 26 years he served Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, developing uniquely designed menus for the First Families and their guests, which included foreign dignitaries, royalty, and heads of state. He is the longest tenured chef – pastry or culinary – in the history of the American presidency.

Born in the village of Bonnay, France, the award-winning chef began his career apprenticing for his older brother Jean. He went on to work at the iconic Savory Hotel in London, the Four Season Hotel George V in Paris, and the legendary Princess Bermuda Resort. In 1976, Mesnier came to the U.S. and worked at The Homestead, a venerable resort hotel in Hot Springs, Virginia.

Since retiring in 2006, Chef Mesnier devotes his time to teaching (he developed the first professional Pastry Arts program at L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, MD), public speaking, and consulting. He has written several books, including Dessert University, Basic to Beautiful, All the Presidents’ Pastries, and collaborated with the White House Historical Association on A Sweet World of White House Desserts, The White House in Gingerbread: Memories and Recipes, and The Gingerbread White House: A Pop-Up Book.

The HCCC Culinary Arts Institute (CAI) program is ranked number eight in the U.S. by Best Choice Schools. Nationally recognized for its award-winning curriculum, it is one of only two programs in the New York region accredited by the American Culinary Federation Accrediting Commission. The HCCC CAI is located in the College’s Culinary Conference Center, a 72,000 square-foot facility on Newkirk Street in Jersey City with state-of-the-art kitchens and classrooms including bakeries, hot-food and cold-food kitchens, ice-sculpting studio, fish-and-butchery room, mock-hotel hospitality suite, and library with more than 4,000 cookbooks.

Additional information on the HCCC Culinary Arts Institute program is available by emailing caiFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE or phoning 201-360-4640.