Henderson pastry chef on her way to the Culinary Olympics

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Henderson pastry chef Melissa Root is the only female on the six-member Culinary Olympics team from the United States.

Thu, Oct 16, 2008 (midnight)

ACF Culinary Team USA

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For Henderson pastry chef Melissa Root, the decision to leave her position at a Strip resort and leave her husband behind for a few months was not an easy one.

But when the national team comes knocking, it's hard — if not downright daft — to say no.

Root is the only female on a six-member team of chefs that will represent the United States in Germany later this month at the International Culinary Art Competition, more commonly known as the Culinary Olympics.

"It's a huge, huge honor," Root said. "I feel very blessed to have made it this far and to be working with some of the most talented people in the industry."

Root's appointment to the team is the culmination of an extended selection process that began with her submission of an essay and resume, then two rounds of live tryouts in Chicago. Though she was not the first pastry chef selected — she was appointed two months ago after the team's first and second pastry chefs withdrew — she is relishing her role.

"I've been classed as the underdog," she said. "Canada wrote an article recently that said it was a good thing the American team was bringing such an inexperienced pastry chef."

She may have never competed internationally, but "inexperienced" is probably not the right word for Root, who walked away from her job at Payard Patisserie & Bistro at Caesars Palace to join the team and has been intensively training with Team USA at team sponsor Westchester Country Club in New York for two months.

They have been perfecting their recipes and deciding what they will make for the competition. Her average day has spanned 20 hours, beginning at 8 a.m. and sometimes going as late as 4 a.m.

"It's one of the most challenging and rewarding and stressful times of my life," she said. "You're pushing yourself beyond your natural capacities every day."

There's a lot on the line for Team USA. In the last competition in 2004, the team captured the gold in the hot foods competition. Though it marked the fifth time the American team won that honor since it began competing in 1956, the overall gold medal still eludes it.

The competition consists of two parts: a hot foods competition and a cold foods competition. In the cold foods competition, the theme is architecture, and Root said she has been studying the work of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and has incorporated it into her food design.

In the hot foods competition, the team is given five hours to prepare an appetizer, entree and dessert for 110 people. For that competition, Root said, she plans to capture the fall season by serving a warm apple dessert.

Team USA's goal, Root said, is to capture the elusive all-around gold medal. Her own goal is to contribute to that by winning an individual gold medal for her pastry work.

"(My teammates') dream rests on what I do there," she said. "As a personal goal, I want to say that I really, really gave it all I had."

Thought the pressure is high, Root said the support and understanding of her husband, David Root, has been crucial. Of course, it's easy for him to understand what this means to her — he's the executive chef at Green Valley Ranch, and he served as his wife's assistant in the second tryout.

"He knows very much what it takes to succeed in this business," Melissa Root said. "He's been my biggest supporter and my champion."

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