A Celebration of Jacques Pépin
The lauded chef turns 90 this year with a dinner series
One of the world’s most lauded chefs, Jacques Pépin, turns 90 this year. The chef, cookbook author, humanitarian, and television personality has a long-celebrated career ranging from being the personal chef of French President Charles de Gaulle (he turned down the same role for President John F. Kennedy) to being the culinary head at Howard Johnson’s and the recipient of two dozen James Beard awards. But he might be best loved for being besties with Julia Child and the co-host of the 1999 PBS series Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home.
To celebrate the life of chef Pépin, the Jacques Pépin Foundation is hosting its first nationwide campaign in honor of his 90th birthday with virtual celebrations, in-home dinner parties where people are encouraged to use the chef’s recipes to create a memorable meal, and the 90/90 Dinner Series — a running series of dinners throughout the country with proceeds directly benefitting the Jacques Pépin Foundation, supporting its community kitchen programs and educational videos, and creating a cycle of support that empowers individuals and communities.
Venerable Florida chef, Norman Van Aken, will co-host two dinners in the series. On Tuesday, February 18, Miami’s Sereia will host a dinner with chefs Henrique Sá Pessoa and Miguel Massens, alongside Norman Van Aken, Daniel Ganem. Soraya Kilgore, Michael Beltran, and Michael Schwartz.
On February 28, Norman’s in Orlando will host a gala celebration dinner hosted by Van Aken and his culinary team (Carlos Robles-Molina, Gloriann Rivera, and Kyle Rhodes) along with chefs Ryne Wood, Andres Mendoza, Camilo Velasco, Stefan Riemer, Mario Pagán, Clay Miller, Wendy Lopez, and Ryan Ratino. In addition, the City of Orlando will declare that day Jacques Pépin Day.
Van Aken tells Broken Palate that when he was asked to participate in one of the dinners, he doubled down. “The Foundation came to me completely happenstance. I have a treasure book series on my Substack and someone at the Foundation happened to see it. I said I’d be willing to do two dinners,” he shares, adding, “For me, it’s paying back to a person who was a mentor to someone who couldn’t afford to go to culinary school.”
Van Aken shares that when he was a young line cook he couldn’t see a way to to advance his career. Then, something wondrous happened. “Someone rolled into my restaurant and had a copy of La Technique by Jacques Pépin. I couldn’t even afford to buy the book, but he let me borrow it. I used that book for my culinary education.”
Van Aken describes how he would study the pictures in the book, as well as the recipes and techniques. “It was the opportunity to suddenly have your eyeballs on so many photographs. It was taking Mastering the Art of French Cooking and flooding it with images. I would stare at these photos like they were water in the desert. And they taught me visually — here’s where you cut, here’s how you stuff, this is how you poach something.”
Van Aken said that something clicked for him with that book. “Jacques Pepin appealed to me not only as a chef but as a person who could speak about food in an artistic way. He’s an artist. He’s a renaissance man. He changed my understanding of food and I realized I didn’t have to make the same dishes. I could find in cuisine what I was looking for in writing and songwriting — expression. “
Van Aken says that creating food for people goes beyond nourishment. “Behind the hard-working person who smells like fish and sweat with burnt hands is something that can make people happy. I want to make people happy.”
The chef also says that one of the responsibilities of working in the culinary field is giving back to the community. “The Jacques Pépin Foundation supports the community in so many different ways, including training people for careers in hospitality. The life’s work of Jacques Pépin is going forward helped by his daughter, Claudine Pépin, and her husband, Rollie Wesen.
Van Aken says he still looks to chef Pépin for inspiration, after years of mentorship both by book and in person. “I’m touched that a book a held in my hands helped me be less afraid to fuck up. And I am touched that Jacques Pépin knows my name. I know the man and he knows me and I love that.”
Find out how you can celebrate Jacques Pépin here.