Dinner (Together)

~ Live & Learn

Q: In your memoir The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen, you talk about the importance of having dinner as a family, having everyone together to discuss the issues of the day.

Jacques Pépin: For me, the kitchen is the center of the house. When a kid comes back from school, you sit down in that kitchen and you do your homework. You hear the voice of your mother, your father, you hear the clink of pots and pans, you see the ingredients, the smells. All of that will stay with you the rest of your life. You know, that becomes very important. For a child just home from school, the kitchen is a great place to be.

~ Don’t miss full interview @ GQ.com: Jacques Pépin  (April 11, 2017)

Sources: Quote – Thank you Harvey @ The Happy Curmudgeon. Photo: L.A. Times

31 thoughts on “Dinner (Together)”

  2. Pingback: Dinner (Together) | O LADO ESCURO DA LUA

  4. My mum worked full time, so I always came home to an empty house after school. So when I became a Mum I wanted to be there when they came home, the kitchen is the center, the roots of a house, and eating together creates a heart connection.

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  5. Yep! Nothing like it. Hearing your child unpack his/her day – good for all of us on so many levels. Now I have to go read the rest of the interview (smile).

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  7. I agree, but how often do the children of this era get to do it? Even in the 50’s having Mom, Dad, sisters and brothers was difficult to achieve. Worse than that, I have taught in what was called a ‘disadvantaged school” and the children were called “door-key orphans. There was so much they missed that it had affected their language because there was very little conversation in the home.

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  8. yes, i love this and am happy to have my grandsons walk home to my cottage each day after school. we have snacks, do homework, watch a cartoon, talk about the day, relax. it is a magic time.

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  10. Some of my happiest childhood memories revolve around the kitchen. Dinner as a family every night and many, many hours spent alongside my mother and grandmother cooking, canning, baking, laughing, crying, learning, growing. Bela’s daughter is right; food is love….

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  12. I was a chef for 25 years. People ask me if I watch any of the Chef shows.
    “No I don’t. I cant stand them. But I watch Jacques Pepin. He’s great.”
    ( And sometimes the Americas Test Kitchen)

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      1. As he teaches you a recipe, there is often a recurring line as he shows you how to do something, or how much of this or that to throw in the pot, or explains what a substitute might be.
        “You don’t have to worry too much” Chef Pepin says.
        And in the article he talks about “massaging” a recipe, and making it your own.
        Occasionally I’ll teach someone a recipe.
        I translate this idea of not worrying, and massaging recipes to “Follow Your Dream”
        Can we add more garlic, more apples, or leave out the onion?
        “Certainement! Just follow your dream!”

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