The Jacques Pépin conversation event at the Newport Wine and Food Festival has understandably sold out this year. For foodies, who wouldn’t want to hear the TV star talk about his 75 years of experience in the industry? It was an incredible pleasure to hear from Pépin and his daughter, Claudine Pépin, about their career and culinary experiences while sipping the wines he recommended (Taittinger rosé was magnificent) in the magnificent ballroom of the Rosecliff mansion.

The Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival served as a launching pad of sorts for the launch of the Jacques Pépin Foundation (JPF) nationwide fundraising campaign. in honor of your 90th^This On its birthday, the initiative will feature 90 restaurant gatherings hosted by chefs including Thomas Keller, Norman Van Aken, Rick Bayless, Jody Adams, Daniel Boulud, Lee Anne Wong, Andrew Zimmern, Tom Colicchio, Maneet Chauhan, and other big names in the industry. , Ming Tsai, Katie Button and Jeremy Sewall. The campaign will “expand JPF’s grant program supporting community kitchens, which provide free culinary and life skills training to those excluded from the workforce, and connect participating restaurant chefs with local community kitchens.”

“90 for 90” kicked off in June at Marea Restaurant in New York with the announcement of the campaign and kicked into high gear this month, starting with a star-studded affair with Executive Chef Mike Anthony and Danny Meyer at Gramercy Tavern. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Union Square Hospitality Group. There are two dinners in Boston next month at La Padrona and Row 34. “90 for 90” returns to Newport next year and Giusto in May. To see Here for the full program.

I spoke with Jacques Pépin about his efforts to organize these incredible dinners, his advice to other young chefs, his love for Newport, the impact of his foundation, his secret to a good life, and the chef’s favorite memories of Julia Child. It was an enjoyable interview.

You lived this amazing life. What do you think is the secret of happiness?

Making a living from something you love. So that’s basically it. If you are happy with what you do, that’s what life is all about.

What advice do you have for other aspiring young chefs?

I always advise a young chef, if he can afford it, to work with the best chef he can go with, even if he is paid less. And at that point, learning something from that chef, looking at the dishes you cook there from the chef’s perspective, doesn’t matter much, even if it doesn’t suit your own taste. You just say ‘Yes chef’ and do it. And you work with one chef for a few years, with another, with another chef for maybe 10 years. And then you have a lot of material and you can show it with your own taste and aesthetic sense.

Everyone was so happy to welcome you to the Wine and Food Festival in Newport. Have you had a chance to tour Newport?

Yes, I love Newport. I’ve been there many times. And I’m not far from here. My daughter lives in Barrington, Rhode Island, so it’s close, we’ve been there a few times. Years ago, we worked for the festival every year for, I don’t know, six, seven, eight years. So I always enjoy it.

I love your wine pairings for dinner at Newport, especially the Taittinger Rosé, which is excellent. How did you choose these?

They showed me the place and I suggested it. (For Taittinger), a good brand, a very good wine, very balanced.

Basically, I like wine, but I don’t like unusual wines every time. I hate going to 15-course tasting menus and you always have to smell the wine and leave. After two of these I got fed up (laughs).

I love the nationwide tour you are doing. I saw you had dinner with Tom Colicchio at the end of this month. Tell me about being paired with so many famous chefs across the country.

Chefs are very generous. To be a chef you have to be generous. You have to give a lot of yourself when cooking. And I find that chefs are the first to offer their time. I used to do this all the time: I would work 10-12 hours a day at a restaurant and then on my day off I would raise money or (do something else). But I didn’t mind it at all because I liked it.

What is your goal with “90 by 90”?

The aim of the foundation is to teach people how to cook and to raise awareness about the necessity of culinary education. I feel like I can teach someone to cook in six weeks. I start by asking people if they like working with their hands.

Chances are, five years from now this person may be the chef of a small restaurant, and at that point you’ll have reshaped your life. This is a very valuable thing. I am very pleased with this.

What are your favorite memories from the meals you cooked this year?

The first one was at Gramercy Tavern a few weeks ago and it was incredible. You see the passion, the love, and it was very expensive (laughs).

It was $750 per person!

It was incredible. And (sold out). I’m humbled by these things. Then I have Craft with Tom Colicchio at the end of the month and I know that’s booked too and I love Tom Colicchio, I’ve known him forever. And next month, yes, I’ll be in Boston, (where) we’ll have a game with Jerry Sewall at Row 39 (which I love) and Jody Adams again at the LA Padrona.

Like many industries, the food industry has been hit hard during COVID. How do you think your foundation will make a difference for those who want to study culinary arts?

I think we can make a difference by teaching people the correct cooking technique.

Mostly people who are deprived of their right to life. So there are a lot of people coming out of prison, former drug addicts, and homeless people, and I did some shows for them. They are really grateful and they are really learning. And as we say in our motto, ‘everyone looks the same in the eye of the stove.’

That’s true because when you work with someone it’s 11 o’clock and at 12 o’clock 100 people sit down for lunch. Regardless of the color of your hand, you really need to move. It is very pleasing to see such people in the age of polarization.

If a bunch of Democrats and a bunch of Republicans came to my house to eat, before they start talking and yelling, I’d say, ‘Okay, let’s have a glass of wine, let’s sit down and eat something together.’ And on this point, of course, we have our differences, but they seem more polished, more sophisticated and less aggressive.

Why is food literacy so important?

People save money because you bring people happiness. People’s health is better, we feel good, and especially you bring a family together.

As a child, I remember leaving school, going home, being in the kitchen and smelling that kitchen there. There is noise in the kitchen, mother’s and father’s voices. And these are very instinctive tastes, an instinctive memory. It stays with you for the rest of your life and becomes very important. The food itself is far beyond the point of being nutritionally important. It can be a home, it can be a memory, it can be a family, it can be love, all of these things can happen.

I was at a restaurant a few days ago, there was a couple there in their 30s or 40s and they had two kids, four of them were talking on their cell phones. This whole time, no one talked to anyone, and it was terrible. When my daughter Claudine was little, we had dinner every night, and I did this with my grandson. He was three, four years old, he would come and I would say, ‘I need parsley.’ Let’s go to the garden.’ Then you sit at the table with the food you just made, which prolongs the conversation. And you’re talking about school, you’re talking about other things. That’s why communication was so important to me.

I’m sure this is a question you’ve probably gotten a million times. What are some of your favorite meals to make lately?

In fact, I will eat anything you put in front of me. But after all these years, your metabolism changes (laughs). In fact, as a young chef I would put more on the plate, and now I can take it off the plate to be left with something more substantial without needing to garnish too much. So I still always have eggs in one form or another, chicken and a piece of salmon, simple, I had it last night.

What is your particular ingredient that you feel people don’t use enough in the kitchen?

I don’t use it, especially people don’t use it, definitely the same thing, like Brussels sprouts or artichokes, which I always add to the weight, they are not used much in daily meals.

I had the cookbook they wanted me to make. These are really simple things that I pull out of the fridge. My tastes are not really challenging in some ways, maybe I like the simpler, but I guess that happens to all of us as we get older.

I’m glad we all got a copy of the cookbook at the Newport event.

Last question: You’ve cooked a lot with your beloved Julia Child. What is your favorite memory of him?

Sharing the wine (laughs). We produced 13 series of 26 shows for PBS. So that’s hundreds and hundreds of shows. So every time we do one of these shows, you have a book in your hand. That’s why I have so many books.

So when Julia and I decided to cook together, we didn’t have a recipe, so it was crazy. Because usually when you do that, you bring at least a draft of the book or something to give to the back kitchen so they have an idea of ​​what we’re going to do. We decided the day before, let’s make some stew or something. That’s why it took three years for this program to be on the air, because people were looking at these programs to guess and write recipes. It was a reversal of what you normally do, but it was definitely the easiest way to cook for me, and even for him. I think we had a good time.

However, we argued a lot (laughs).

To learn more about the work of the Jacques Pépin Foundation, visit its website, https://www.celebratejacques.org/about/. Here you can also sign up for any of the important dinners.