Jacques Pépin

Jacques Pépin(French pronunciation:[ʒakpepɛ̃]; born December 18, 1935)is a French chef, author, culinary educator, television personality, and artist.After having been the personal chef ofFrench PresidentCharles de Gaulle, he moved to the US in 1959 and after working in New York's top French restaurants, refused the same job with PresidentJohn F. Kennedyin theWhite Houseand instead took a culinary development job withHoward Johnson's. During his career, he has served in numerous prestigious restaurants, first, in Paris, and then in America. He has appeared on American television and has written forThe New York Times,Food & Wineand other publications. He has authored more than 30 cookbooks, some of which have become best sellers. Pépin was a longtime friend of the American chefJulia Child, and their 1999PBSseriesJulia and Jacques Cooking at Homewon aDaytime Emmy Award. He also holds a BA and a MA fromColumbia UniversityinFrench literature.
He has been honored with 24James Beard Foundation Awards,five honorary doctoral degrees, theAmerican Public Television's lifetime achievement award, the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2019and theLégion d'honneur, France's highest order of merit, in 2004.
Since 1989, Pépin has taught in the Culinary Arts Program atBoston Universityand served as dean of special programs at theInternational Culinary Centerin New York City.In 2016, with his daughter, Claudine Pépin and his son-in-law, Rollie Wesen, Pépin created theJacques Pépin Foundationto support culinary education for adults with barriers to employment.He has lived in Connecticut since 1975.
Pépin was born in 1935 inBourg-en-Bresse,France.He was the second of three sons born to Jeannette and Jean-Victor Pépin. AfterWorld War II, his parents opened a restaurant called Le Pélican, where Pépin worked as a child, and later became known for his love for food.
At the age of thirteen, he started his apprenticeship at Le Grand Hôtel de l'Europe in Bourg-en-Bresse.
Pépin achieved his university education in his 30s, after his move to the United States in 1959. There he enrolled in English for foreign students, a GED equivalent, and eventually General Studies classes toward aBachelor of Artsdegree atColumbia University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1970 from Columbia University'sSchool of General Studies, and in 1972, his Master of Arts in French literature from theColumbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.He entered into a doctoral program at Columbia, but his proposed thesis on French food in literature was rejected for being too frivolous for serious academic pursuit.
At age sixteen, Pépin went on to work in Paris, training under Lucien Diat at thePlaza Athénée. From 1956 to 1958, during his military service, he was recognized for his culinary training and skill and was ordered to work in the Office of the Treasury, where he met his long-time cooking partner, Jean-Claude Szurdak, and eventually became the personal chef to three French heads of state, includingCharles de Gaulle.
In 1959, Pépin went to the United States to work at the restaurantLe Pavillon. Soon after his arrival,The New York Times'sfood editorCraig Claiborneintroduced him toJames BeardandHelen McCully. McCully introduced him toJulia Child, who became a lifelong friend and collaborator. In 1961, after Pépin had declined an offer fromJohn F. KennedyandJacqueline Kennedyto serve as chef at the White House,Howard Johnson, a regular Le Pavillon customer, hired him to work alongside fellow FrenchmanPierre Franeyto develop food lines for his chain ofHoward Johnson'srestaurants, where Pépin served as the director of research and development for a decade.
In 1970, Pépin opened a specialty soup restaurant and lunch counter on Manhattan's 5th Avenue called La Potagerie, and began to enjoy popular success with appearances on talk shows such asWhat's My Line?andTo Tell the Truth.
His career as a restaurant chef ended abruptly with a near fatal car accident in 1974.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, after a car accident which damaged his left arm, Pépin reinvented himself as an educator, author and eventually a television personality. Pépin worked as a consultant for restaurateurJoe Baumon hisWindows on the Worldproject, and offered classes at small cooking schools and cookware shops around the United States. In 1976, Pépin authored his cookbookLa Technique, followed byLa Methodein 1979. The use of thousands of photographs, illustrating the techniques and methods required to achieve certain culinary results, provided a window into the art of cooking. The books are credited by chefTom Colicchioand others as helping them to learn the craft of cooking.
In 1982, along withAlain SailhacandAndré Soltner, Pépin was invited byDorothy Cann Hamiltonto become one of the deans at the newly formed culinary school, the French Culinary Institute, in New York City, now known as theInternational Culinary Center (ICC). Also in 1982, he filmed his first television series, withPBSlocal station WJCT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida, and published a companion cookbook entitledEveryday Cooking with Jacques Pépin. Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, Pépin was published as a columnist forThe New York Times, and a guest author forGourmet,Food & Wineand many others. He authored several more cookbooks, includingThe Art of Cooking, volumes 1 and 2, andThe Short-Cut Cook.
In 1989, Pépin partnered withJulia Childand Rebecca Alssid to create a culinary certificate program within theMetropolitan Collegeat Boston University (BU). This effort eventually led to the first, and still one of the few, Master's degrees inGastronomy.Pépin's 1991 television seriesToday’s Gourmet, filmed atKQEDstudios in San Francisco was created from recipes from several books, brought together in the companion cookbookJacques Pépin's Table. In 1994 and 1996, Pepin and Julia Child appeared in 90 minute PBS specials,Cooking In ConcertandMore Cooking In Concert, filmed live before a Boston audience as part of the PBS annual fund drives for those years. In 1996, Pépin introduced his then 27-year-old daughter Claudine, in three television series and companion books:Cooking with Claudine,Encore with ClaudineandJacques Pépin Celebrates. The father to daughter relationship, combined with an instructor to culinary novice relationship, demonstrated Pépin's work as a chef and teacher. Each of the three series earned the pairJames Beard Foundation Awards. In 1999, Pépin teamed up with Julia Child for the series and companion bookJacques and Julia Cooking at Home. The TV series, produced by Susie Heller, won aDaytime Emmy Awardand a James Beard Foundation Award.In 2003, Pépin published his autobiography,The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen.
In the 21st century, Pépin continues to cook, write, publish, film for television, paint and take on new projects. Throughout his career, he has toured and taught on cruise ships including theQueen Elizabeth 2, and theCrystal CruisesandPrincess Cruiseslines. In 2003, he was named the executive culinary director ofOceania Cruises, and "is credited with helping it achieve its reputation for culinary excellence and style".Pépin continues to teach at theICCand at BU, and offers book signings, culinary demonstrations and classes on Oceania cruises and at various locations across the US, several times per year.
Since his time as a student at Columbia University, Pépin has dabbled in and enjoyed drawing and painting. In recent years, he has committed more time to his art, and enjoyed some success with commercial sales on his website,Jacques Pépin Art, and juried shows.In the first decade of the 2000s, Pépin published several more cookbooks includingFast Food My WayandMore Fast Food My Way, which were paired with television series of the same name, produced by Tina Salter, andChez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook, that significantly featured Pépin's art. In 2011, Pépin filmed the seriesEssential PépinatKQEDstudios and published a companion cookbook with more than 700 recipes and a set of technique-oriented videos. In 2012, he publishedNew Complete Techniques, which combined and updated his important earlier worksLa TechniqueandLa Methode.
In 2015 Pépin, 79, recovered at his home in Connecticut after suffering a minor stroke. He canceled his appearance at the annualInternational Association of Culinary Professionalsconference in Washington D.C., but otherwise insisted on returning to his normal schedule, according to the Associated Press. "Oh my god, he made soup this morning", Pépin's daughter Claudine told the Associated Press. "I will do my best to lighten the load, but he's not of the mind to cancel anything. Honestly, he wanted to go to IACP. He's like, 'I'm talking. I can walk. Let's go.'"
In 2016, with his daughter Claudine Pépin and son-in-law Rollie Wesen, Jacques created his eponymous, non-profit, organization theJacques Pépin Foundation(JPF). The mission of the foundation is to support organizations that provide culinary training to adults and youths with barriers to employment such as low-income, low-skills, homelessness, issues with substance abuse and previous incarceration. The JPF provides grants, independent research, source and curricular materials, equipment, direct teaching and video instruction to community-based culinary training programs around the USA.
In 2017, Pépin published a cookbook with his granddaughter Shorey Wesen, entitledA Grandfather's Lessons. In the same year, Pépin received an honorary doctorate from the Columbia University School of General Studies. Pépin resided in Connecticut with his wife Gloria,until her death in 2020.
The success of Pépin's bookLa Technique, used as a textbook for teaching the fundamentals of French cuisine, prompted him to launch a televised version resulting in a 1997PBSseries,The Complete Pépin. Relaunched on PBS ten years after its initial run, the series included a new introduction by Pépin where he stressed that the secret to being a successful chef and not a mereline cooklies in knowing and using the proper technique.
In 1999, Pépin co-starred in thePBSseriesJulia and Jacques Cooking at Homealongside Julia Child. The program was awarded aDaytime Emmyin 2001.
His showJacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way(based on his 2004 book of the same name) ran onPBS, andJacques Pépin: More Fast Food My Waywas broadcast on PBS'Create. InEssential Pépin(2011), Pépin brings modern touches to some of his favorite recipes from his career. In the 26-part public television series, Pépin demonstrates more than 125 dishes while the companion book, published by Houghton-Mifflin, contains more than 700 recipes. In this series, Pépin cooks with his daughter, Claudine, wife of chefRolland Wesen. All of his programs have been produced byKQED-TVinSan Francisco.
Pépin was a guest judge on season five of the Bravo television showTop Chef, which aired in 2008. He stated that his ideal "final meal" would be roastsquaband fresh peas.
Pépin was a guest on the television showWahlburgersepisode called "Pauli Day".Donnie Wahlbergarranged for Pépin to surprise his brotherPaul Wahlbergfor his birthday.
In 2015, his television seriesJacques Pépin Heart & Soulbegan airing. According to its producer, Tina SalterKQED-TV, the series would be his "most personal and special, revealing a man – a legend – whose lust for life, love of food, family and friends continues". The series premiered on KQED on September 12, 2015, and nationally on September 19.
A documentary about his life,Jacques Pépin: The Art of Craft,aired as part of thePBSseriesAmerican Masters, premiering May 26, 2017.The film, narrated byStanley Tucci, was produced and directed by Peter L. Stein, who had produced several of Pépin's early television cooking series at KQED in the 1990s.
In 2020, Jacques and KQED began filming "Cooking at Home" for release on YouTube.
In addition to theDaytime Emmy Awardwon withJulia Child, Pépin has received three of the French government's honors: He is a Chevalier deL'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres(1997) and a Chevalier deL'Ordre du Mérite Agricole(1992). In October 2004, he received France'sLégion d'honneur.He has also received 24James Beard Foundationawards.
On May 13, 2010, Pépin, along with other chefs from the French Culinary Institute (known as theInternational Culinary Center),Alain Sailhac,Jacques TorresandAndré Soltner, prepared a $30,000-per-couple dinner for PresidentBarack Obama's fund-raiser for theDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committeeat Manhattan'sSt. Regis Hotel.
On February 5, 2010, during the christening ofMSMarina, Pépin was named an honorary commodore of theOceania Cruisesfleet,for which he serves as executive culinary director.
He received anhonorary doctorate of Humane LettersfromBoston Universityon May 22, 2011. In October 2011, Pépin was the recipient of the first-ever tribute dinner at the New York Food and Wine Festival. Cooking for Pépin at the event, hosted byMartha Stewart, were French chefsAlain Ducasse,Daniel Boulud, and others. In 2015, Pépin was the first recipient of theJulia Child AwardfromThe Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.
In May 2017, Pépin received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters fromColumbia University.
Pépin married Gloria Evelyn Augier in 1966, whom he met while working as a ski instructor.She died on December 5, 2020.They had one daughter, Claudine (b. 1968).
In 1974, Pépin was badly injured while driving on a country road when a deer leapt in front of his car and he swerved to avoid it. His car hit the deer, veered off the road, struck a telephone pole, then crashed into a ravine and landed upside-down and on fire. He fractured 14 bones in his back, pelvis, and arms. His left arm was so badly injured that physicians initially wanted to amputate it. Pépin recovered, but his left shoulder remained limited in mobility and his left arm is several inches shorter than his right.In his autobiography,The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen,Pépin notes that his accident caused him to realize that he would not be able to continue working full-time as a chef/restaurateur; this realization motivated his reinvention as a teacher and author.