Georges Auguste Escoffier - Essay Sample on the Celebrity Chef

Georges Auguste Escoffier, also known as merely Auguste Escoffier is one of the world's true celebrity chefs that was credited with ensuring a rise of the status of cooking from a laborer's activity to an artist's endeavor. Georges Auguste Escoffier was born in 1846, in a small village of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, a region within France. Distinguished as "the king of chefs and the chef of kings," Auguste Escoffier left an outstanding legacy of recipes and culinary writing that are unavoidable to the modern cooking and has delivered a significant mark in the French cuisine. Through his childhood, the key figures in his life were his father, a blacksmith who also cultivated tobacco plantations; his grandmother, a despicable cook, who is one of the individuals that instilled the appreciation of cooking in the boy. Auguste Escoffier attended a local school until the age of 12, at a time which his father thought it was significant and necessary for Escoffier to learn how to trade among other things. During his school days, Escoffier had shown great interest in drawing; he was motivated to pursue the art of drawing as just as a hobby and seek a career in a more practical setting. However, the then dreams of becoming a sculptor faded after his father took him to Nice, to serve as an amateur in his uncle's restaurant in Nice "the reputable Le Restaurant Francais."

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During this period at Le Restaurant Francais, Auguste Escoffier started as a kitchen and sauce boy and dealt with simple activities of restaurant upkeep such as serving the customers. Moreover, Escoffier had to balance his time as he attended night school. By the time Escoffier was 19, he had garnered more responsibilities in his uncle's restaurant and was offered work in Paris "Le Petit Moulin Rouge" a renowned restaurant where he served as a sous-chef for three years and was promoted to head chef. Later on, Escoffier was offered an army job where he spent almost seven years and mastered the art of canning sauces, vegetables, and meat. After the war, Auguste Escoffier resumes his prior job at Le Petit Moulin Rouge as a head chef all through into 1878. In 1880, Escoffier married Delphine Daffis, a publisher's daughter and their marriage lasted 55 years with a daughter and two sons. Through the early years in their marriage, they spent their summers in Lucerne, Switzerland, where Auguste Escoffier manages various kitchens. It was during this period when Escoffier met a Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz, who became a prominent figure in Escoffier's life are they teamed up to combine their talents. During the period from 1890 to 1898, Escoffier and Ritz worked together through a series of restaurants to when Ritz opened his restaurant in Paris, the ultra-modern "Hotel Ritz" where be brought his expertise in culinary. However, Escoffier returned to London where he gained worldwide recognition. In 1899, Escoffier unveiled a new dessert, Peach Melba, in honor of Australian opera musician.

Nonetheless, in the turn of the century, there were significant changes in Escoffier's life as his partnership with Ritz ended in 1901 and began publishing his culinary works in the following years starting with "Le Guide Culinaire" in 1903 that comprised of more than 5,000 recipes and garnish dished. At the age of 73, Escoffier was now planning to retire with his wife to Monte Carlo; however, he continued working and collaborating on various projects. In the same year, the French government recognized the works of Escoffier for elevating the French cuisine. By 1921, Escoffier had retired from restaurant involvement. On 12th February 1935, the French chef died at the age of 89 in Monte Carlo, only days after the demise of his wife. Through the activities of Escoffier, there is a legacy he left with over 10,000 inventions, and numerous culinary centers continue to teach through his practices and methods (Myhrvold, 2018).

Works Cited

Myhrvold, Nathan. "Auguste Escoffier | French Chef." Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Auguste-Escoffier