MASTER CLASS
Legendary chef Pepin helps give people a second chance in food industry
As the saying goes: Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime. But learn to cook fish from Jacques Pepin, and you'll feed others for an entire culinary career.
On Friday, Pepin will appear at the New England Center for Arts and Technology for a cooking class and cocktail reception supporting the work of the Bostonbased nonprofit, which provides employment training for the food service industry, including hands-on culinary instruction, to adults who are working to overcome barriers such as homelessness, substance abuse and former incarceration.
Culinary education is also the crux of the Jacques Pepin Foundation, a new nonprofit that expands on the life's work of the legendary French-born toque, star of numerous television shows — including an Emmywinning collaboration with Julia Child — and author of a library of seminal cookbooks, from 1976's gourmand gospel “La Technique” to last year's “A Grandfather's Lessons: In the Kitchen With Shorey,” which saw the chef cooking alongside his teenage granddaughter.
“So much of my body of work has to do with technique, which trains your hand,” Pepin said. That kind of skill-based culinary learning can form the foundation for a long-lasting career.
“It may take some time and research, but anyone can learn technique,” Pepin said. “That alone doesn't make an extraordinary chef, but now you'll know the trade. And at that point you can run a restaurant. You can kind of redo your life.”
Pepin, 84, lives in Connecticut and has taught for decades in the culinary arts program at Boston University. In 2016, the BU School of Hospitality Administration named Pepin its first executive-in-residence.
The chef's support is a big boon to NECAT, which has enrolled about 500 students over the last five years. Over 70 percent moved on to employment in the food services industry, where underemployed communities find open doors as restaurants struggle to fill a national labor shortage that has resulted in more than 650,000 job vacancies, according to Rollie Wesen, Pepin's son-in-law and foundation co-founder.
They find open hearts and minds, too. “It's a forgiving industry,” said Joey Cuzzi, executive director of NECAT. “It's willing to look past
history and take a chance on graduates who are making a commitment to better their lives.”
For Pepin, an eponymous foundation focused on technique and training both reaffirms the education-based element of his legacy and engages an important social justice initiative helping those in underemployed communities get back to work regardless of background and barriers.
“Giving pride back to people who have been disenfranchised is very important,” Pepin said. “The dining table is a great equalizer.”
“I've heard Jacques say many times, `We are all equal in the eyes of the stove,'” Wesen added.
necaT is among the growing number of culinary training organizations and community kitchens to which the Jacques Pepin Foundation loans its resources, including the leverage of association with one of world's most iconic chefs.
The foundation, launched in 2016, is still a fledgling family affair run by Pepin, his daughter claudine Pepin, whose TV and writing work (including her debut 2015 cookbook, “Let's cook French”) follow in her famous father's footsteps, and Wesen, a culinary instructor and assistant professor at Johnson & Wales University in rhode Island. Other upcoming events include “savor,” a June 7 gala dinner and fundraiser for the r.I. Food Bank featuring such luminaries as Ming Tsai and sara Moulton.
asked about her father's greatest asset as a teacher, claudine Pepin is quick to respond. “humility,” she said. “he's extremely humble with people that he meets, and doesn't really see the reach of his success.”
What's the best lesson he ever gave her?
“don't burn the garlic,” said claudine. “and don't take yourself too seriously.”
For tickets to the necaT reception with Jacques Pepin, go to ne-cat.org.