--- product_id: 21579774 title: "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen" price: "129.95 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/21579774-the-apprentice-my-life-in-the-kitchen store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen **Price:** 129.95 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen - **How much does it cost?** 129.95 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/21579774-the-apprentice-my-life-in-the-kitchen) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description In this captivating memoir, the man whom Julia Child has called “the best chef in America” tells the story of his rise from a frightened apprentice in an exacting Old World kitchen to an Emmy Award–winning superstar who taught millions of Americans how to cook and shaped the nation’s tastes in the bargain. We see young Jacques as a homesick six-year-old boy in war-ravaged France, working on a farm in exchange for food, dodging bombs, and bearing witness as German soldiers capture his father, a fighter in the Resistance. Soon Jacques is caught up in the hurly-burly action of his mother's café, where he proves a natural. He endures a literal trial by fire and works his way up the ladder in the feudal system of France’s most famous restaurant, finally becoming Charles de Gaulle’s personal chef, watching the world being refashioned from the other side of the kitchen door. When he comes to America, Jacques immediately falls in with a small group of as-yet-unknown food lovers, including Craig Claiborne, James Beard, and Julia Child, whose adventures redefine American food. Through it all, Jacques proves himself to be a master of the American art of reinvention: earning a graduate degree from Columbia University, turning down a job as John F. Kennedy’s chef to work at Howard Johnson’s, and, after a near-fatal car accident, switching careers once again to become a charismatic leader in the revolution that changed the way Americans approached food. Included as well are forty all-time favorite recipes created during the course of a career spanning nearly half a century, from his mother’s utterly simple cheese soufflé to his wife’s pork ribs and red beans. The Apprentice is the poignant and sometimes funny tale of a boy’s coming of age. Beyond that, it is the story of America’s culinary awakening and the transformation of food from an afterthought to a national preoccupation. Review: A charming, down-to-earth love story - I could not put the book down! Great nostalgia for a "home cook" who began experimenting with cooking in 1968. Growing up my Mother, a very capable farm style cook, who had begun cooking for thrashers (farm workers who helped with the harvest) at age 12 during the height of the Depression in 1930 basically said "I'll cook...you study! If you excel in school you can always hire someone to cook!" She also made sure that everyday we had lovely simple meals made with tons of fresh ingredients, loaves of freshly baked bread and never wasted a thing. Fast forward to 1968 when upon graduating from college and soon to be married my friends threw a bridal shower for me where every single friend knowing I'd never boiled an egg, but loved to eat and made a decent "lab partner" in Chemistry each gave me a cookbook. Thank God my future Mother-in-law gave me the "Joy of Cooking" and I diligently went through it page-by-page...made a different blind pie crust everyday for a year surreptitiously until I finally could "pretend I was a natural" at creating the perfect flaky pie crust. I READ the recipe faithfully every morning for scrambled eggs as I'd make breakfast and if it had said "Stand on one leg and cluck like a chicken while beating the eggs" I'd have done it until my new husband pointed out after about 6 months of watching this procedure that I could probably make the scrambled eggs without looking at the pictures of how to do it in my "Better Homes and Garden" looseleaf binder cookbook. Little did he know that only a few weeks before I had had to call my Mother (over 500 miles away and a long distance phone call) to get the "recipe for baked potatoes" because I scoured the cookbooks and couldn't find it anywhere. I knew you washed the potato, left the skin on, put it in the oven...but for how long and what temperature (the knob on the oven went from 200 to 550)? Anyone that devoted, hungry, interested and with at least another six years of student poverty ahead while my husband finished medical school and his internship and two small children would be "pedal to the metal" to learn about everything I could about how to turn out great food on $50 a month! We became "locavores" before we ever heard the word...I never dared tell our dinner guests that the Escargot came from the Arboretum at UC Davis...you put enough garlic and butter on anything and it's delicious. Again Thank God...people like Julia Child, Craig Claibourne, James Beard, Jacques Pepin were all trying to help people like me who were clueless but oh so willing and fascinated. Reading "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen" was like reading a love letter. A behind the scene of view of how the books that became such "good friends and trusted teachers" like James Beard's "Menus for Entertaining", Craig Claibourne'a "The New York Times International Cook Book", Jacques Pepin's "Technique", Julia Child and Simone Beck's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" that I wore out a few copies of some only to be quickly replaced while tattered spineless copies are kept for sentimental reasons, lovingly spattered and annotated for things I observed in my initial attempts.Maman reminded me of my Mother (no recipes, no measurements, delicious food). I got quite sentimental reading Pepin's book and tearing up a few times while laughing aloud at other episodes. I think "The Apprentice" is a must read for really anyone who enjoys making and cooking delicious food but it is perhaps particularly touching for those of us who remember learning so much from these great, talented, generous creative and innovative "teacher" chefs through the years. Life would have been infinitely less rich without them. Review: Pepin is Foundational Reading for Foodie's and Chefs - Anyone who seriously enjoys food/eating knows or should know about Jacques Pepin, the French chef who has done so much to advance the art of food, food preparation and food sophistication. He has been around for quite a long while, and is one of the few originals who really started the food revolution which rages today. This book, "The Apprentice, My Life in The Kitchen," is an older book (copyright 2003) which was—fortunately—a recent subject of desertcart's BookBub deal of the day. It is a fun, easy read, extremely well written, and packed with Pepin's bubbly personality, wit, as well as a vivid recounting of the rather amazing life he has led. Born in a small French town near Lyon, Bourg-en-Bresse, now well known for, inter alia, chicken dishes, he was apprenticing in his mother's restaurant from an early age, worked his way up the "brigade" kitchen system established by Escoffier through restaurants in Lyon and ultimately Paris, and ultimately came to America where he literally made history. He worked in top restaurants in New York City. He enrolled in Columbia University to learn English, and stayed there through a Ph.D program. He was the culinary director for the Howard Johnson chain of motels and restaurants when Howard Johnson, Sr. ran the operation nationally and successfully. Pepin brought class, and efficiency to the chain's restaurants; when Sr. died and Jr. took over, and made radical changes to a cheaper, fast-food operation, Pepin was out the door. He friendships extended to the luminaries in food, especially the early ones, such as Craig Claiborne, James Beard and Julia Child, among many others. He taught cooking in many different venues, and wrote prolifically books and articles. He had several different TV shows. And this is not in the book, but relevant: he became the culinary director for Oceana, a luxury cruise line, and established it as the generally agreed "best food at sea." He includes his recipes for many different dishes at the end of each chapter. Pepin is a towering figure in food, a foundational leader to the hundreds of celebrity chefs we have today. His book shows why: his intelligence, his determination and discipline, his awareness and vision, and the value of training and education, all shine through. A very pleasant read, by and about a man who lived success with every savory bite. ## Features - A Memoir with Recipes ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #92,184 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #47 in Culinary Biographies & Memoirs #69 in French Cooking, Food & Wine #2,550 in Memoirs (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,507 Reviews | ## Images ![The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/610UucuLtKL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A charming, down-to-earth love story *by S***N on June 27, 2011* I could not put the book down! Great nostalgia for a "home cook" who began experimenting with cooking in 1968. Growing up my Mother, a very capable farm style cook, who had begun cooking for thrashers (farm workers who helped with the harvest) at age 12 during the height of the Depression in 1930 basically said "I'll cook...you study! If you excel in school you can always hire someone to cook!" She also made sure that everyday we had lovely simple meals made with tons of fresh ingredients, loaves of freshly baked bread and never wasted a thing. Fast forward to 1968 when upon graduating from college and soon to be married my friends threw a bridal shower for me where every single friend knowing I'd never boiled an egg, but loved to eat and made a decent "lab partner" in Chemistry each gave me a cookbook. Thank God my future Mother-in-law gave me the "Joy of Cooking" and I diligently went through it page-by-page...made a different blind pie crust everyday for a year surreptitiously until I finally could "pretend I was a natural" at creating the perfect flaky pie crust. I READ the recipe faithfully every morning for scrambled eggs as I'd make breakfast and if it had said "Stand on one leg and cluck like a chicken while beating the eggs" I'd have done it until my new husband pointed out after about 6 months of watching this procedure that I could probably make the scrambled eggs without looking at the pictures of how to do it in my "Better Homes and Garden" looseleaf binder cookbook. Little did he know that only a few weeks before I had had to call my Mother (over 500 miles away and a long distance phone call) to get the "recipe for baked potatoes" because I scoured the cookbooks and couldn't find it anywhere. I knew you washed the potato, left the skin on, put it in the oven...but for how long and what temperature (the knob on the oven went from 200 to 550)? Anyone that devoted, hungry, interested and with at least another six years of student poverty ahead while my husband finished medical school and his internship and two small children would be "pedal to the metal" to learn about everything I could about how to turn out great food on $50 a month! We became "locavores" before we ever heard the word...I never dared tell our dinner guests that the Escargot came from the Arboretum at UC Davis...you put enough garlic and butter on anything and it's delicious. Again Thank God...people like Julia Child, Craig Claibourne, James Beard, Jacques Pepin were all trying to help people like me who were clueless but oh so willing and fascinated. Reading "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen" was like reading a love letter. A behind the scene of view of how the books that became such "good friends and trusted teachers" like James Beard's "Menus for Entertaining", Craig Claibourne'a "The New York Times International Cook Book", Jacques Pepin's "Technique", Julia Child and Simone Beck's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" that I wore out a few copies of some only to be quickly replaced while tattered spineless copies are kept for sentimental reasons, lovingly spattered and annotated for things I observed in my initial attempts.Maman reminded me of my Mother (no recipes, no measurements, delicious food). I got quite sentimental reading Pepin's book and tearing up a few times while laughing aloud at other episodes. I think "The Apprentice" is a must read for really anyone who enjoys making and cooking delicious food but it is perhaps particularly touching for those of us who remember learning so much from these great, talented, generous creative and innovative "teacher" chefs through the years. Life would have been infinitely less rich without them. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pepin is Foundational Reading for Foodie's and Chefs *by L***A on December 3, 2021* Anyone who seriously enjoys food/eating knows or should know about Jacques Pepin, the French chef who has done so much to advance the art of food, food preparation and food sophistication. He has been around for quite a long while, and is one of the few originals who really started the food revolution which rages today. This book, "The Apprentice, My Life in The Kitchen," is an older book (copyright 2003) which was—fortunately—a recent subject of Amazon's BookBub deal of the day. It is a fun, easy read, extremely well written, and packed with Pepin's bubbly personality, wit, as well as a vivid recounting of the rather amazing life he has led. Born in a small French town near Lyon, Bourg-en-Bresse, now well known for, inter alia, chicken dishes, he was apprenticing in his mother's restaurant from an early age, worked his way up the "brigade" kitchen system established by Escoffier through restaurants in Lyon and ultimately Paris, and ultimately came to America where he literally made history. He worked in top restaurants in New York City. He enrolled in Columbia University to learn English, and stayed there through a Ph.D program. He was the culinary director for the Howard Johnson chain of motels and restaurants when Howard Johnson, Sr. ran the operation nationally and successfully. Pepin brought class, and efficiency to the chain's restaurants; when Sr. died and Jr. took over, and made radical changes to a cheaper, fast-food operation, Pepin was out the door. He friendships extended to the luminaries in food, especially the early ones, such as Craig Claiborne, James Beard and Julia Child, among many others. He taught cooking in many different venues, and wrote prolifically books and articles. He had several different TV shows. And this is not in the book, but relevant: he became the culinary director for Oceana, a luxury cruise line, and established it as the generally agreed "best food at sea." He includes his recipes for many different dishes at the end of each chapter. Pepin is a towering figure in food, a foundational leader to the hundreds of celebrity chefs we have today. His book shows why: his intelligence, his determination and discipline, his awareness and vision, and the value of training and education, all shine through. A very pleasant read, by and about a man who lived success with every savory bite. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 90% personal biography, 10% cookbook... details *by P***E on September 25, 2008* This 2003 hardcover edition yields a nice personal biography of beloved French chef, Jacques Pépin. He has also given us a few of his unique recipes along the way. The book covers Pépin's life, including details of his immediate family, from childhood until recent times. He also talks about many of his well-known close associates such as James Beard, Craig Claiborne, Julia Child, Ed Giobbi, and Helen McCully. This work is nicely illustrated with many photos from Pépin's lifetime. Pépin was born in France (his father participated in the resistance movement during the WW II years) where he was apprenticed to renowned French chefs of the period. When he came to America he worked a long stretch for Howard Johnson but ultimately he went out on his own to engage in developing recipes for "American cuisine" -- writing cookbooks and teaching others his superb culinary techniques eventually became his forté and hallmark. He also discusses his successful marriage, his near-fatal car crash, and how he rose to conduct his numerous television appearances and programs. There are a few of Pépin's recipes in here but this is by no means a cookbook. Most of the recipes are there simply to punctuate the commentary of text. For some of Pépin's best recipes, get Jacques Pepin's Simple and Healthy Cooking . This is not what one would call a compelling biography but it's certainly an interesting one, especially for those who are fans of Jacques Pépin and/or for anyone interested in the culinary arts. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen - Jacques Pépin Heart & Soul in the Kitchen - Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/21579774-the-apprentice-my-life-in-the-kitchen](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/21579774-the-apprentice-my-life-in-the-kitchen) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-05-30*