The Job Jacques Pépin Would Have Done If He Wasn't A Chef

Jacques Pépin is one of the most iconic chefs alive today — but his path to success wasn't easy. Pépin was born in 1935 in Bourg-en-Bresse, France. He grew up in his mother's restaurant, then left home at 13 for a formal apprenticeship at Grand Hôtel de l'Europe. Afterward, he headed to Paris to continue his culinary career, which included cooking for Charles de Gaulle. But did the young Pépin ever consider an alternate route? 

Apparently yes, but his options were limited. In interviews, Pépin explains that growing up, he assumed that he'd follow in his parent's footsteps. "On one side, my father, a cabinet maker, on the other side, my mother, it was one or the other," Pépin told Chef's Roll. "I never even thought that I could be a doctor or an architect. That was my life at that point."

Pépin did break with family tradition to an extent when he became a chef: While many of the women in his family worked in restaurants, he was the first man to pursue work as a chef. Still, he feels that he would've enjoyed his father's profession. "I could have been a cabinet maker," he told KQED. "I love to work with my hands, I love to build walls, granite too."

In retrospect, Pépin added that he might've enjoyed the medical route as well. "Maybe I could even be a surgeon," he said. "I'm pretty good with a knife — and I think I would've liked that."

In a 2015 talk at the 92nd Street Y, Pépin and Anthony Bourdain discussed the challenges of becoming a chef — especially when they got their first jobs in the food industry. "You describe a very tough life for anyone," Bourdain noted. "Long hours, not much pay, the classic brutal hazing." Pépin acknowledged that it wasn't easy, but expressed that he enjoyed it, too.

"What there was, also, there was a great deal of happiness. I loved what I was doing. The yelling in the kitchen, a great deal of joking around ... I thought life was wonderful," Pépin said. However, Pépin also added jokingly that he may have only enjoyed those aspects of his career so much because he didn't know anything else. "Would I go back to it now?" He pondered. "Probably not."

He's happy he made the decision, though. In his interview with Chef's Roll, Pépin claimed that he had no regrets. "No, I have been blessed, I've been gratified, and I've been successful. So a lot of people with my talent haven't had the chance that I have, so no, I'm very happy with what I did."