is a chef...

Jacques Pepin is a chef of French origin now living in the United States. He is a master chef who has a television show, which appears to be re-runs from a decade ago and which while it looks a little dated compared with the style of celebrity cooking shows currently exploding onto our sets, is a breath of fresh air...His 'show' is influenced not only by his humble early life as one of several children in a poor family, but also by what I believe is a very European 'peasantry' sensibility of never wasting anything...poverty and not wasting things go hand in hand. Usually. Mssr Pepin uses every last bit of celery or cut of meat. He turns water into stock in the blink of an eye and If he does discard something it's after his life-long experience has taught him that the seeds of a cucumber for example, are pretty difficult to wrangle into a stand alone dish... I like him because he will also refuse to cook during some episodes. Instead, he will teach about knife skills, or indicate a variety of ways to chop a clove of garlic, depending on the dish one cooks. So, he is all about technique as well. Some of his dishes do seem old fashioned or 'classic'. Yet, to watch his old hands work (he must be near 80 yrs) is to witness an Artisan create. I also like him because he always has a glass of wine at the end of the show which he will raise in a salute to life and food and family and friends.