I don’t know about your TV, but the percentage of saved programs on mine that are food related is, um, pretty high.  And really, they’re all of Jacques Pepin’s show.  Or as 80 refers to him, Jacquy P.  Don’t tell him I wrote that on the blog though.  Anyway, I’m so lucky that I didn’t cave to 80′s pressure to delete the old episodes because for a few months there, his show disappeared.  But then a KQED intern, Joseph, emailed ES about Jacques’ status and his new show: Jacques Pepin: More Fast Food My Way.  First, thank you Joseph!  Because, I mean, Jacques is truly my heart, especially after reading his auto-bio and I was so pumped that ES was on Joseph’s radar.  After a few emails, I was able to secure a phone interview with the French chef.  I was pretty freaking nervous about interviewing my favorite cooking celeb.  Would I be able to hide my admiration?  Would I be able to think of any questions he hasn’t already been asked a million times?  Would I be able to understand his heavy French accent?

Well, I thought the interview went pretty well AFTER I insulted cruise food.  So, I knew that Jacques was winding down on this crazy press tour for the show and the companion book and I asked what he was up to next.  Jacques said he was off to Barcelona via a cruise ship.  Now, I’ve never been on a cruise (sea sick issues) but all I’ve ever heard about was the terrible food.  Like a completely unprepared interviewer, I asked him what he thought about bad cruise food and this is when Monsieur Pepin kindly let me know that he is the *culinary director* for Oceania Cruises and that was why he’d be on the ship.

So Saucy: Chef Jacques Pepin [Express]

Photo: KQED