Jacques Pépin | |
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Jacques Pépin at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic 2006
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Born |
Bourg-en-Bresse, France |
December 18, 1935
Education | Columbia University (B.A., 1970; M.A., 1972) |
Website | jacquespepin |
Culinary career | |
Cooking style | French |
Previous restaurant(s)
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Television show(s)
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Award(s) won
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Jacques Pépin (French pronunciation: [ʒak pepɛ̃]; born December 18, 1935) is an internationally recognized French chef, television personality, and author working in the United States. Since the late 1980s, he has appeared on French and American television and written an array of cookbooks that have become best sellers.
Pépin, the second of three sons, was born in 1935 in Bourg-en-Bresse, near Lyon in France. After World War II, his parents, Jeannette and Jean-Victor Pépin, owned the restaurant, Le Pélican, where Pépin worked and later became known for his love for food. He went on to work in Paris, training under Lucien Diat at the Plaza Athénée. From 1956 to 1958, during his military service, Pépin was the personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle. In 1959 Pépin came to the United States to work at the restaurant Le Pavillon. Soon after his arrival, Craig Claiborne, noted food editor at the New York Times, introduced Pépin to Helen McCully, who took him under her wing. McCully introduced him to Julia Child sparking their long friendship and collaboration. Eight months later, in 1961, Howard Johnson, a regular Le Pavillon customer, hired Pépin to work alongside fellow Frenchman Pierre Franey to develop food lines for his chain of Howard Johnson's restaurants, while Pépin was attending Columbia University.
Pépin received his B.A. degree from Columbia University's School of General Studies in 1970 and his M.A. in French literature from the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1972.