Biography Continued
... San Francisco, it is scheduled for initial broadcast over public television stations nationwide in early October 2001 to coincide with the publication of a companion cookbook, also called Jacques
Pépin Celebrates by Alfred A. Knopf, New York. The second book is an updated one-volume version of his earlier classics, La Technique (1976) and La Methode (1979). Entitled Jacques Pépin’s Complete Techniques, it was published this summer (2001) by Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, New York.
Celebrated host of numerous award-winning cooking shows on national public television, master chef, food columnist, cooking teacher, and author of twenty-one cookbooks, Jacques Pépin was born in Bourg-en-Bresse, near Lyon. His first exposure to cooking was as a child in his parents' restaurant, Le Pelican. At age thirteen, he began his formal apprenticeship at the distinguished Grand Hotel de L’Europe in his
hometown. He subsequently worked in Paris, training under Lucien Diat at the Plaza Athénée. From 1956 to 1958, Mr. Pépin was the personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle.
Moving to the United States in 1959, Mr. Pépin worked first at New York's historic Le Pavillon restaurant, then served for ten years as director of research and new development for the Howard Johnson Company, a position that taught him about mass production, marketing, food chemistry, and American food tastes. He studied at Columbia University during this period, ultimately earning an M.A. degree in 18th-century French literature in 1972. In 1997, on the 50th anniversary of
the creation of the School of General Studies at Columbia, Mr. Pépin was honored with four other distinguished alumni of the School, each representing a different decade in its history.
Mr. Pépin shared the spotlight with Julia Child in his last PBS-TV series. The twenty-two show series ,entitled “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home,” was the winner of The James Beard Foundation’s Award for Best National Cooking Show—2001, and the duo received a 2001 Daytime Emmy Award from The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. There is a companion cookbook to the series he did with Ms. Child and also to two earlier public television series he
co-hosted with his daughter, “Jacques Pépin’s Kitchen: Enclore with Claudine” (1998) and “Jacques Pépin’s Kitchen: Cooking with Claudine” (1998).
A former columnist for The New York Times, Mr. Pépin writes a quarterly column for Food & Wine. He also participates regularly in that magazine’s prestigious Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and at other culinary festivals and fund-raising events worldwide. In addition, he is a popular guest on such commercial TV programs as The Late Show with David Letterman, The Today Show, and Good Morning America.
In collaboration with Bourgeat, Inc, Mr. Pépin has a line of copper cookware ("Jacques Pépin’s Signature Series") created to his specifications and, with Lunt Silversmiths, a line of kitchen textiles, cutlery, and tools featuring his designs.
Mr. Pépin is the recipient of two of the French government’s highest honors: he is a Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1997) and a Chevalier de L’Ordre du Mérite Agricole (1992). The Dean of Special Programs at The French Culinary Institute (New York), he also is an adjunct faculty member at Boston University. He is a founder of The American Institute of Wine and Food, an emeritus member of the International Association of Cooking Professionals, and is on
the board of trustees of James Beard Foundation. He and his wife, Gloria, live in Madison, Connecticut.
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