Jacques Pépin
French chef, author, and television personality.
Jacques Pépin (born December 18, 1935) is a French chef, author, culinary educator, television personality, and artist. After being the personal chef of French president Charles de Gaulle, he moved to the US in 1959. He worked in New York's top French restaurants and took a culinary development job with Howard Johnson's. Pépin has appeared on American television and authored more than 30 cookbooks, some of which have become best sellers. He was a longtime friend of the American chef Julia Child, and their 1999 PBS series *Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home* won a Daytime Emmy Award.
- known_for
- Chef at the Élysée Palace for Charles de Gaulle; television series with Julia Ch
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
Jacques Pépin was born in 1935 in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, the second of three sons. After World War II, his parents opened a restaurant called Le Pélican, where Pépin worked as a child. At age 13, he started his apprenticeship at Le Grand Hôtel de l'Europe in Bourg-en-Bresse. At 16, he worked in Paris, training under Lucien Diat at the Plaza Athénée. During his military service from 1956 to 1958, he was recognized for his culinary training and 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, including Charles de Gaulle. In 1959, he went to the United States to work at Le Pavillon. Soon after, *The New York Times* food editor Craig Claiborne introduced him to James Beard and Helen McCully, and McCully introduced him to Julia Child. In 1961, after declining an offer from John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy to serve as White House chef, Howard Johnson hired him to develop food lines for his chain of restaurants. In 1970, Pépin opened a specialty soup restaurant and lunch counter on Manhattan's 5th Avenue called La Potagerie. His restaurant career ended abruptly with a near-fatal car accident in 1974.
Reader's Guide
Jacques Pépin's significance lies in his dual role as a master chef and a transformative educator. After a car accident damaged his left arm, he reinvented himself as an author and television personality. In 1976, he authored *La Technique*, followed by *La Méthode* in 1979, using thousands of photographs to illustrate culinary techniques—books credited by chef Tom Colicchio and others for teaching them the craft. In 1989, he partnered with Julia Child and Rebecca Alssid to create a culinary certificate program at Boston University, leading to one of the first master's degrees in Gastronomy. He also served as a dean at the International Culinary Center. His television work includes the 1999 PBS series *Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home* with Julia Child, which won a Daytime Emmy Award. Pépin has been honored with 24 James Beard Foundation Award nominations and 16 awards, the American Public Television lifetime achievement award, the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2019, the Julia Child Award in 2015, and the Légion d'honneur in 2004. In 2016, with his daughter Claudine and son-in-law Rollie Wesen, he created the Jacques Pépin Foundation to support culinary training for adults with barriers to employment. He has lived in Connecticut since 1975.
Did You Know?
- Pépin earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1970 from Columbia University's School of General Studies and his Master of Arts in French Literature in 1972 from the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
- His proposed doctoral thesis on French food in literature was rejected for being too frivolous for serious academic pursuit.
- In 2015, Pépin suffered a minor stroke but insisted on returning to his normal schedule—his daughter Claudine told the Associated Press, 'Oh my god, he made soup this morning.'
- Pépin's 1991 television series *Today's Gourmet* was filmed at KQED studios in San Francisco.
- He has dabbled in drawing and painting for years, and his cookbook *Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook* significantly featured his art.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jacques Pépin?
Jacques Pépin is a French-born chef, cookbook author, culinary educator, and television personality born on December 18, 1935. He built a career that spans elite French kitchens, American restaurant development, and decades of teaching home cooking to a wide audience.
What is Jacques Pépin most known for?
He is best recognized for serving as a chef at the Élysée Palace under Charles de Gaulle, co-hosting the Emmy-winning PBS series Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home with Julia Child, and publishing more than thirty cookbooks. His achievements also earned him multiple James Beard Foundation Awards and France's Légion d'honneur.
How did Jacques Pépin start his professional career?
Following de Gaulle's return to power in 1958, Pépin was appointed to cook for the president at the Élysée Palace. He then moved to the United States in 1959, where he worked in top New York French restaurants before taking on a culinary development role with Howard Johnson's.
What was Jacques Pépin's role on Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home?
He co-hosted the Emmy-winning PBS series alongside Julia Child, walking viewers through French and American recipes in a relaxed, instructional style. The show became a landmark in American food television and reinforced his reputation as an approachable culinary teacher.
Why is Jacques Pépin considered important in culinary history?
He translated high-end French restaurant technique into practical, everyday home cooking, making professional-level skills accessible to a mass audience. His influence stretches across decades through his cookbooks, television work, and teaching, shaping how millions of people approach the kitchen.
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