DonRocks Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Jacques Pepin: Consumers May Pay Price of Chefs' Fame An excerpt: The longtime dean of French cooking in the U.S. worries that so many up-and-coming chefs focus so much on book deals and television appearances they may lose sight of their real job. Jacques! YA FUCKIN' THINK? More: He said the culinary world's focus on fame marks a shift in how new chefs view their role."The idea of old was to conform yourself to a style of cooking, it was not to create a style of cooking," Pepin said during an interview before Saturday's dinner. "Now the chef is so much into 'I want to sign that dish and say I am the one who made that dish.''' I think you might have just spotted a trend here. God love ya, Chef. I don't know what else to say other than God love ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanCole42 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 "The cook whom the ancients regarded and treated as the lowest menial was rising in value, and what had been a servile office came to be looked upon as a fine art." -Livy; History of Rome: Book 39, Chapter 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 "The cook whom the ancients regarded and treated as the lowest menial was rising in value, and what had been a servile office came to be looked upon as a fine art." -Livy; History of Rome: Book 39, Chapter 6. In all seriousness, has this ever been recognized as the earliest "celebrity chef" umm, umm, umm ... citing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 The longtime dean of French cooking in the U.S. worries that so many up-and-coming chefs focus so much on book deals and television appearances they may lose sight of their real job. Pepin...said that when he speaks to culinary students today, nearly half aspire to write books or appear on TV. Source: Rocks' HuffPo article During the course of Jacques Pépin's long, illustrious career he has published 25 cookbooks and hosted nine public television cooking series. Source: http://www.cookstr.com/users/jacques-pepin/profile Huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I'm going to argue in favor of Pépin here because his cooking shows are a completely different genre from something like one of those weird food travelogues or Iron Chef, the American version of which strikes me as a Hollywood animated movie produced to sell toys. I can walk away from his show and go cook the same dish in my kitchen, which is not the case with so many of the others. His books are also a cut above with detailed instructions that others lack, a characteristic he shares with Julia Child's work which I also admire. Finally, my Dad did some TV work for PBS when I was a kid, and I can say with certainty that it does not make you rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 If you have read Pepin's memoir The Apprentice, then you will know why he had to stop working in restaurants and found his niche in Public Television and subsequent cookbook writing. For those of you unfamiliar with this, he was classically trained in France from the time he was about 13, came to the US after a stint in the French Navy where he wound up as the French President's chef, and worked at Le Pavillion with Pierre Franey. Then, when that place closed, Franey went to work for Howard Johnson in the test kitchen and got Pepin a job there, too. A bad car accident in 1972 (IIRC) left him unable to stand in a kitchen for hours on end. In the meantime, he went to NYU (without ever having attended High School) and earned degrees in art and French literature. At some point he became a Dean at the French Culinary Institute. The artwork in his books and on the show with Julia Child are all his. The boy knows what he is talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrid Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I can certainly think of a couple DC based famewhore chefs who fits Pepin's description... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synaesthesia Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Pepin is not a chef in a professional kitchen anymore. He wasn't writing books and doing TV shows at the expense of some other work. I'd say that's what gives him a leg to stand upon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers2000 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I look at it more as Pepin evolved (post accident) from chef to teacher, which resulted in his TV stints and cookbooks (as well as two of the more important culinary works in La Technique and La Methode). If you haven't read "The Apprentice" I would strongly recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktmoomau Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I look at it more as Pepin evolved (post accident) from chef to teacher, which resulted in his TV stints and cookbooks (as well as two of the more important culinary works in La Technique and La Methode). If you haven't read "The Apprentice" I would strongly recommend it. Thank you all for this thread, I am now going to go out and get this book! (Well by go out and get it I mean order it online somewhere I can get it used, unless it is a cheap on Amazon for my iPad or available from the Arlington library iPad collection). On this note, do we have a thread on good culinary reads? I couldn't find it (but I am sure we do my ability to locate things on this site is still bad, but I did use google). Ericandblueboy gave me the Fortune Cookie Chronicles, which I liked and have now passed on to my MIL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhone1998 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Thank you all for this thread, I am now going to go out and get this book! (Well by go out and get it I mean order it online somewhere I can get it used, unless it is a cheap on Amazon for my iPad or available from the Arlington library iPad collection). On this note, do we have a thread on good culinary reads? I couldn't find it (but I am sure we do my ability to locate things on this site is still bad, but I did use google). Ericandblueboy gave me the Fortune Cookie Chronicles, which I liked and have now passed on to my MIL. What do people think about a culinary book exchange at the picnic? I have a bunch of books I'd gladly bring, knowing that others here would appreciate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktmoomau Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 What do people think about a culinary book exchange at the picnic? I have a bunch of books I'd gladly bring, knowing that others here would appreciate them. We did a cookbook exchange in the past, seemed to work well as long as you took back any that weren't picked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Pepin is not a chef in a professional kitchen anymore. He wasn't writing books and doing TV shows at the expense of some other work. I'd say that's what gives him a leg to stand upon. What synaesthesia said. Jacques Pépin didn't take a hit restaurant and parlay it into superstardom. The bulk of his career has been as a teacher, and he's very, very good at it, and deserves a lot of respect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRiv18 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Jacques Pepin: Consumers May Pay Price of Chefs' Fame The video posted on that site is spot on. Big JP fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 What synaesthesia said. Jacques Pépin didn't take a hit restaurant and parlay it into superstardom. The bulk of his career has been as a teacher, and he's very, very good at it, and deserves a lot of respect. I'm just now reading this thread for the first time since last night. Just to clarify my original post - it didn't even once occur to me that it might be interpreted as calling Pepin out as a hypocrite (although reading it now, I can see why it might be); I was merely poking fun of him for stating something so obvious - as if he had confirmed the existence of dark matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banco Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 If memory serves me right, there is a panel on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that depicts JP in beautiful chiaroscuro seated at the right hand of JC. The restoration of the 1980s, contrary to academic opinion at the time, returned it to its vivid authentic glory. When I can turn a single potato as he does then I will consider myself an accomplished cook. When you consider all the things he might have said over the past several years of celebrity-mongering food-whoredom, he has been unusually discrete, even by his standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 The Essential Pepin,. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 From NYT Diner's Journal. [Once you've hit the 20 article limit on the NYT, you can still come in from outside links. After a number of those, they start randomly taking over your screen with a nag to purchase a subscription. You can override these by removing all of the characters after the basic url in your browser and hitting reload.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 The Essential Pepin,. I meant to thank you for this link right after you put it up, but I watched a couple of the shows and forgot! So nice to have new but simple ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetrain Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 [Once you've hit the 20 article limit on the NYT, you can still come in from outside links. After a number of those, they start randomly taking over your screen with a nag to purchase a subscription. You can override these by removing all of the characters after the basic url in your browser and hitting reload.] Or clear your cache - they just use a cookie. Its a pretty easy pay wall to get around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I meant to thank you for this link right after you put it up, but I watched a couple of the shows and forgot! So nice to have new but simple ideas. I just got Jacques Pépin's new cookbook of the same name. It's huge, and full of very straightforward recipes, many of which look very good. It's illustrated by the author, although the drawings are more in the nature of decoration. The book as a physical object is kind of off-putting. It's been issued without dust-jacket, but the cover itself is pictorial, plastic over boards, and very strangely padded, making the book kind of spongy. I don't expect spongy in a book. Another thing that puts me off is the typography. Each recipe title is printed in blue in a sans serif typeface that I don't recognize, under that is "Serves n" in black but the same sans serif, and then the first few words of the recipe are printed boldface in the sans serif face and then it switches on the same line to a non-bold serif face. It looks awful. All that aside, after owning this book for three days now, I'd say it will probably be one of my go-to's when I'm looking for ideas for a company meal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I posted this on the Discount Coupon thread, but thought it could us another mention here because I think some of you might be interested. Jacques will be appearing at the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show and tickets to his cooking demo, a signed copy of The Essential Pepin, and general admission are available for half price, $41, through Groupon here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 We are very sorry to inform you that Jacques Pepin has had to cancel the luncheon scheduled with Michel Richard at Citronelle on November 18. Unfortunately, Jacques needs to have immediate hip replacement surgery and he will be unable to make it to Washington, DC. At this time, we do not have a future date for this luncheon, but you will be the first to know if rescheduling becomes possible.We thank you for your interest in Michel Richard Citronelle and Jacques Pepin, and are very sorry for any disappointment and inconvenience this may cause. FYI: Jacques Pepin will still be attending the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show on Saturday, November 5 at the Washington Convention Center. For tickets and further information on that event visit http://www.metrocooking.com/index.php/dc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 It's quite possible he could be attending the November 5th event in a fair amount of pain, with surgery to follow shortly afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 It's quite possible he could be attending the November 5th event in a fair amount of pain, with surgery to follow shortly afterwards. Well, I hope to see him on the 5th, but would understand if he declined to do the demo. Bearing weight can be unbearable for mere minutes with a hip like that. Perhaps he'll be seated most of the time and have Claudine carry out the tasks. Naaahhhhhh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 It's quite possible he could be attending the November 5th event in a fair amount of pain, with surgery to follow shortly afterwards. I'd certainly imagine the event will cause Pepin a lot of pain - Guy Fieri and Paula Deen will be doing demos there. Really I'm not questioning the scheduling or Pepin's commitments, just Citronelle's use of the phrases "immediate" and "unable to make it to Washington DC". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 The Pepin ticket option (whether sold out or available) is no longer on the metrocook site. His demo info page is still there but then not on the ticket options page at all. Maybe indicates he won't be here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 I'd certainly imagine the event will cause Pepin a lot of pain - Guy Fieri and Paula Deen will be doing demos there. Really I'm not questioning the scheduling or Pepin's commitments, just Citronelle's use of the phrases "immediate" and "unable to make it to Washington DC". Dammit, Brian, I'm a publicist, not a doctor (I wouldn't read too much into the language of this). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdt Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I'd certainly imagine the event will cause Pepin a lot of pain - Guy Fieri and Paula Deen will be doing demos there. Really I'm not questioning the scheduling or Pepin's commitments, just Citronelle's use of the phrases "immediate" and "unable to make it to Washington DC". He isn't coming to DC at all. Full info here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nenadaves Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 If you have read Pepin's memoir The Apprentice, then you will know why he had to stop working in restaurants and found his niche in Public Television and subsequent cookbook writing. For those of you unfamiliar with this, he was classically trained in France from the time he was about 13, came to the US after a stint in the French Navy where he wound up as the French President's chef, and worked at Le Pavillion with Pierre Franey. Then, when that place closed, Franey went to work for Howard Johnson in the test kitchen and got Pepin a job there, too. A bad car accident in 1972 (IIRC) left him unable to stand in a kitchen for hours on end. In the meantime, he went to NYU (without ever having attended High School) and earned degrees in art and French literature. At some point he became a Dean at the French Culinary Institute. The artwork in his books and on the show with Julia Child are all his. The boy knows what he is talking about. Indeed he does! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 He isn't coming to DC at all. Full info here. Yes, Groupon issued a refund so it's a no go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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