24-time James Beard Award winner Jacques Pépin talks about his love for cooking
In the small coastal community of Madison, Conn., Pépin savors the rewards of his extraordinary life and career
Updated: 5:05 PM EDT Mar 29, 2025
CHANNEL 5. WHAT IS IT ABOUT COOKING AND SHARING A MEAL WITH THOSE THAT YOU LOVE? THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN LIFE. MANY OF US ARE ACCUSTOMED TO SEEING FAMED CHEF, AUTHOR AND TV PERSONALITY JACQUES PEPIN IN THE KITCHEN. HE HAS BEEN FILLING OUR HOMES AND CULINARY CURIOSITIES FOR SEVEN DECADES NOW. TODAY WE MET AT HIS HOME IN MADISON, WHERE HIS INTERESTS ARE AS VARIED AS THE LIFE HE HAS LIVED. OKAY, NOW I HAVE THE POINT. ONE AKIN TO A GREAT LOVE STORY FILLED WITH FLAVORS, FRIENDS, FAMILY, INCLUDING HIS BELOVED LATE WIFE GLORIA, AND HIS BEST BUDDY. THIS IS GASTON. GASTON. OKAY. WE MOVED HERE IN 1976, SO THAT’S A LITTLE WHILE AGO. YEAH. PEPIN MOVED TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1959, MET HIS WIFE IN THE CATSKILLS, BOUGHT A HOME THERE, BUT AN ACCIDENT IN THE 70S WOULD CHANGE THAT. I HAD 12 FRACTURE BROKE MY BACK, MY HIP IN SEVERAL PLACES. SO I SAID WE’D HAVE TO MOVE FROM UPSTATE NEW YORK. I MEAN, I USED TO SKI DOWN MY DRIVEWAY, SO IT WAS PRETTY STEEP. WE CAME AROUND HERE ONCE AND IT WAS PURELY ARBITRARY. ARBITRARY, YES, BUT HE STAYED HERE IN MADISON. HE AND HIS WIFE RAISED THEIR DAUGHTER, CLAUDINE, AND BUILT A LIFE TO SAVE HER. I LOVE THE BEACH. I GO TO THE WOODS TO PICK UP WILD MUSHROOMS AND A GOOD RESTAURANT. FROM NEW HAVEN TO ALONG THE COAST. AND. YEAH. SO. AND I HAVE A LOT OF FRIENDS HERE NOW. PEPIN’S REPUTATION AS A CHEF PRECEDED HIS U.S. ARRIVAL. HE HAD BEEN A CHEF IN SOME OF THE MOST RENOWNED KITCHENS IN PARIS, AND PERSONAL CHEF TO FRENCH PRESIDENT CHARLES DE GAULLE. HE TURNED DOWN THE SAME JOB AT THE WHITE HOUSE, BUT HE DID AGREE TO ANOTHER MEETING WHERE TWO DREAMS WOULD COLLIDE INTO A PLEASURABLE. PARTNERSHIP. SO WHEN JULIA CAME AND. AND HELLEN TOLD ME, YOU KNOW, IT’S A VERY TALL WOMAN WITH A TERRIBLE VOICE. BOTELLO THAT JULIA IS A 50 YEAR FRIENDSHIP WITH JULIA CHILD WOULD FOLLOW A PBS SERIES, JULIA AND JACQUES COOKING AT HOME FOR PEPIN. COOKBOOKS A FAR REACHING FOLLOWING DESPITE HIS YEARS OF TRAINING, HE DID, AND CONTINUES TO MAKE COOKING RELATABLE. I AM CONSIDERED VERY OFTEN BYBEE ARE THE QUINTESSENTIAL FRENCH CHEF HERE, AND YOU PICK UP ONE OF MY BOOKS AND YOU HAVE A BLACK BEAN SOUP WITH BANANA AND CILANTRO ON TOP. PROBABLY THE QUINTESSENTIAL AMERICAN CHEF. HE HAS AUTHORED 34 COOKBOOKS, STACKED AMONG THEM IN HIS HOME. HIS FAVORITES, THOUGH THERE IS MEMORY IN FOOD, MEMORY, AND LOVE, PAGES FILLED WITH MEALS SHARED WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS. THE MENU, THE WINE, MY WIFE AND ME. WE WERE A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE. THESE ARE THE PERSONAL MOMENTS THAT HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THE FOUNDATION OF HIS VERY PUBLIC LIFE. THIS IS A GROUND WORK OF MY LIFE. I MEAN, I WAS MARRIED FOR 54 YEARS. WE OPENED A BOTTLE OF WINE. WE COOKED, SHE COOKED, I COOKED, WE COOKED, AND WE HAD DINNER EVERY NIGHT. THE SIGNATURES, SOME SIGNED IN WINE. SOMETIME. YOU KNOW, I TAKE HIS POOL. RED WINE AND UP. MUCH LIKE MANY OF HIS PUBLISHED COOKBOOKS, HIS ART FRAMES, THE MENUS. HE STOPPED SHORT OF CALLING HIMSELF AN ARTIST. HE ISN’T TRAINED THAT WAY, BUT THE CANVAS DOESN’T SEEM TO MIND. IN 2016, HE CREATED THE JACQUES PEPIN FOUNDATION, ALONG WITH DAUGHTER CLAUDINE AND SON IN LAW ROWLEY WESTON, A CHEF AND CULINARY INSTRUCTOR AT JOHNSON AND WALES UNIVERSITY. THE FOUNDATION HELPS GIVE PEOPLE WHO HAVE HIT HARD TIMES A SECOND CHANCE THROUGH CULINARY TRAINING. PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN A BIT. DISENFRANCHIZED BY LIFE, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE WHO COME OUT OF JAIL, YOU KNOW, HOMELESS PEOPLE. I KNOW THAT IN SIX WEEKS I COULD TEACH SOMEONE HOW TO CLEAN THE SALAD AND THE ONION AND CHOPPED GARLIC. AND IF THAT PERSON LIKES IT THERE, FIVE YEARS LATER, THAT PERSON MAY BE THE CHEF THERE. AND YOU REDO YOUR LIFE. HE HAS RECEIVED COUNTLESS ACCOLADES, AWARDS TOO MANY TO NAME. EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A MEMORY WALL WITH THIS MANY PICTURES ON IT. YEAH THAT’S TRUE. BUT HIS GREATEST REWARD ARE THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT FOOD BROUGHT TO HIS TABLE. AND JOSH TURNS 90 THIS YEAR THERE WILL BE A SPECIAL SOIREE IN NEW YORK NEXT WEEK, HOSTED BY BIG NAME CHEFS TO CELEBRATE HIS BIRTHDAY AND BENEFIT HIS FOUNDATION. CHEF JOSH TELLS NICOLE HE IS RETIRED, BUT IN ADDITION TO COOKING VIDEOS AND ART AND BULL TOURNAMENTS, HE ALSO STILL LECTURES AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY. HE AND JULIA CHILD ACTUALLY WORKED TOGETHER TO PITCH THE IDEA TO CREATE THE G
24-time James Beard Award winner Jacques Pépin talks about his love for cooking
In the small coastal community of Madison, Conn., Pépin savors the rewards of his extraordinary life and career
Updated: 5:05 PM EDT Mar 29, 2025
In 2016, famed chef and author Jacques Pépin created the Jacques Pépin Foundation to help teach individuals who have fallen on hard times culinary skills. Pépin has called Madison, Conn., home for more than four decades. Originally chosen for its proximity to both New York and Boston, Pépin built a life and family in the small town on the Connecticut Shoreline.Having lived in Madison since the 70s, Pépin built a life to savor in the small New England town.Asked why he loves where he lives, Pépin says, “I love the beach, I go to the woods and pick up wild mushroom, good restaurants in New Haven to along the coast, and I have a lot of friends here now.”Pépin’s reputation as a chef preceded his U.S. arrival; he had been a chef in some of the most renowned kitchens in Paris and a personal chef to then-French president Charles De Gaulle. He turned down the same job at the White House, where he would have cooked for John F. Kennedy, in favor of a chef position with Howard Johnson. Pépin did, however, agree to one other meeting, where two dreams would collide into a pleasurable partnership. A 50-year friendship with Julia Child would follow along with a PBS series, Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home. Pépin said he is retired now, but still lectures at Boston University. He also is involved in his foundation and began an online cooking channel during the pandemic. “This is the most beautiful thing in life,” Pépin says. “You have to put love in it, some of yourself. It is a great gift to cook for people.”
In 2016, famed chef and author Jacques Pépin created the Jacques Pépin Foundation to help teach individuals who have fallen on hard times culinary skills. Pépin has called Madison, Conn., home for more than four decades. Originally chosen for its proximity to both New York and Boston, Pépin built a life and family in the small town on the Connecticut Shoreline.
Having lived in Madison since the 70s, Pépin built a life to savor in the small New England town.
Asked why he loves where he lives, Pépin says, “I love the beach, I go to the woods and pick up wild mushroom, [there are] good restaurants in New Haven to along the coast, and I have a lot of friends here now.”
Pépin’s reputation as a chef preceded his U.S. arrival; he had been a chef in some of the most renowned kitchens in Paris and a personal chef to then-French president Charles De Gaulle. He turned down the same job at the White House, where he would have cooked for John F. Kennedy, in favor of a chef position with Howard Johnson.
Pépin did, however, agree to one other meeting, where two dreams would collide into a pleasurable partnership. A 50-year friendship with Julia Child would follow along with a PBS series, Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home.
Pépin said he is retired now, but still lectures at Boston University. He also is involved in his foundation and began an online cooking channel during the pandemic.
“This is the most beautiful thing in life,” Pépin says. “You have to put love in it, some of yourself. It is a great gift to cook for people.”