Jacques Pépin has spent his career defying expectations. By 1958, at the age of 23, he had cooked for three French presidents. But he left that life to work at a high-end restaurant in New York, then gave that up to cook at Howard Johnson's, making food for the masses. After a life-altering accident, Jacques found his next love: teaching other people how to cook. By the early ‘90s he was one of America’s best-known TV chefs. This week, Dan visits Jacques at his home in Connecticut, where the chef shares his recipe for SPAM, talks about his pandemic pivot to Instagram, and discusses the pleasures of a life spent experimenting.

If you want to see photos of Jacques’s menu books, his wall of pots and pans, and more, follow Dan on Instagram.

And in other big news, you can now buy tickets for our Sporkful Live event! On Wednesday, March 9, at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco, Dan will be talking with the one and only J. Kenji López-Alt. It's Kenji's first ever full-length Sporkful interview, and that week his new cookbook The Wok comes out. Proof of vaccination and masks will be required. Get your tickets here.

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Johanna Mayer, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com