Friday, July 30, 2004

The Apprentice

It is more than a memoir. It is more than a cookbook. It is more than a philosophical guide. It is Jacques Pepin's The Apprentice: My Life In The Kitchen.

This celebrity chef's memoir is a fascinating blend of recipes, philosophical musings, and personal anecdotes. Most intriguing to me was Pepin's account of his falling out with the faculty at Columbia University, who many years ago would not permit him do a doctoral dissertation on the role of food in French culture, saying it was not an important enough topic. Pepin dropped out, much to Columbia's loss, I think.

Pepin helped establish a department at Boston University. He was DeGaulle's chef, worked for Howard Johnson's, owned his own restaurant, "Le Potagerie", and finally became the television chef who replaced Julia Child on PBS. His early accounts of cut hands, burnt fingers, and pranks in French kitchens, as well as the link between cooking and culture--he cooked for Jean Paul Sarte, he knew Genet, etc.--make this book of interest even to readers who are not "foodies."

Finally, the book is a form of Franco-American romance, about the love-hate relations between the two cultures, from D-Day to today, and the marvellous synthesis that can take place when the best of one is combined with the best of another. For example, Virginia's Smithfield Ham makes an excellent Prosciutto, served sliced thin...