One of the world's first true celebrity chefs, Auguste Escoffier(1846-1935) is credited with helping to raise the status of cooking from a laborer's task to an artist's endeavor. Renowned as "the king of chefs and the chef of kings," Escoffier left a legacy of culinary writings and recipes that are indispensable to modern cooks, and remains perhaps the foremost name in French cuisine.

Georges Auguste Escoffier, later known simply as Auguste Escoffier, was born on October 28, 1846, in the small village of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, in the Provence region of France. Among the key figures in the boy's life was his father, who worked primarily as a blacksmith yet also cultivated tobacco plants. His grandmother, an enthusiastic cook, was perhaps more responsible than anyone for instilling in the boy an appreciation for the delights of cooking.

Young Escoffier attended the local school until age 12, upon which time his...