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Jacques Pepin will have a busy two days next week in Milwaukee.

The renowned cookbook author, chef and TV personality comes to town to promote his latest cookbook "Jacques Pepin: More Fast Food My Way" with a signing at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in Shorewood, 4093 N. Oakland Ave., followed by a cooking class and book signing at 6 p.m. in the Pilot House at Discovery World, 500 Harbor Dr.

Wednesday afternoon, Pepin will attend a private luncheon for local chefs hosted by The Bartolotta Group.

Pepin, who has dedicated more than 50 years to the culinary arts, has hosted 11 acclaimed public television cooking series, is the author of 25 cookbooks, serves as Dean of Special Programs at the French Culinary Institute and was awarded France's highest honor -- the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur. Pepin's passion for food is still very evident and he shows no signs of slowing down.

"It amazes many cooks that a few simple and uncomplicated steps can produce such great dishes, and they often say, 'That's it? That's all there is to it?'," Pepin says. "I cook this way all the time. My mother cooks this way, and so do other chefs. And if it's faster and fresher, why not?"

OnMilwaukee.com spoke with Pepin last week:

OnMilwaukee.com: What was inspiration for your latest cookbook?

Jacques Pepin: This is actually a follow-up to my book "Fast Food My Way." I want to help simply and demystify food. To let people know that good food doesn't need to take a lot of time to prepare.

OMC: Where do you see cooking trends going?

JP: On one hand, people say that no one cooks anymore, but then you go into supermarkets, regular or gourmet, and there is such variety and abundance. Someone is buying the food. They aren't just throwing it away.

When I first started cooking, if I wanted to make a chicken I had to (first) pluck it then butcher it. Today, you can walk in any shopping center and buy boneless, skinless breasts ready to go. It's never been easier. You literally have the grocery store as your sous chef, where you can buy most everything prepared. You just need to go home and cook it.

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Posted by FunkyBrewster on Oct. 11, 2008 at 10:09 a.m. (report)

People are mystified by food?! You'd don't have to stare at paintings at the art museum or listen to the symphony to live... but you gotta eat or you gonna die! Even if you never prepared one meal for yourself you still understand FOOD. People are mystified by Outer-Space, The Meaning of Life, and Algebra but why should they be mystified by something they been doing three times daily with snacks inbetween since they first came out their mothers vagina! EATING AND HOPEFULLY COOKING IS A COMMON EXPERIENCE WE AS HUMANS ALL SHARE! Even if you only eaten fast food your entire life--you still had to throw off the lettuce and tomatoes and that was your choice YOUR food preparation! It doesnt take a celebrity french chef for me to understand food. I already know there is faster ways to prepare good meals than a slow cooker. Yes, not all good meals involve a seasonal aging process, 48-hour reduction, and digging a pit in my backyard to smoke out wild boar. This whole "GOOD FOOD QUICK AND EASY" thing is such a gimmick. Look at Minute Rice! It took me a half hour to make that last time I tried! Good Meals do take more time than quick easy ones... and the only fast food is the kind with drive thru's and value meals. It takes time and money like anything to make a good meal... trips to multiple grocery stores... wasted ingredients you have too much of...nobody has just enough of everything laying around... its not like TV where you have each ingredient prepared and seperated into little containers... and it's not fun to do a ton of dishes after a meal for one. Thanks for trying to kiss up to Wisconsin by referencing Cheese & Sausage but even here in the Midwurst we have seen the transition from iceberg to a variety of leafs over the past century or so! We are Romaine Saavy just like Cleveland. Forget this book, if you want good food faster, just turn up the heat!