Jacques Pépin is a French chef, author, culinary educator, television personality, and artist. He began his career in France, serving as the personal chef of French president Charles de Gaulle. In 1959, he moved to the United States, where he worked in New York's top French restaurants and took a culinary development position with Howard Johnson's. Pépin has had a significant presence on American television and has authored more than 30 cookbooks, many of which became best sellers. He was a longtime friend of American chef Julia Child, and the two collaborated on the 1999 PBS series Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, which won a Daytime Emmy Award.