Paul Bocuse was born on February 11, 1926 in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, France. As a teenager, he began an apprenticeship at a local restaurant. The training was interrupted by World War II. At first, he was assigned to a Vichy government youth camp and put to work in its canteen and slaughterhouse. In 1944, he joined the 1st Free French Division and was wounded in combat in Alsace. He received the Croix de Guerre.
After the war, he resumed his apprenticeship at the restaurant. Bocuse went on to become the most celebrated French chef of the postwar era and a leading figure in the culinary movement known as nouvelle cuisine. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1975 and was named chef of the century by the Culinary Institute of America in 2011.
He wrote several cookbooks including Paul Bocuse's French Cooking, Paul Bocuse in Your Kitchen: An Introduction to Classic French Cooking, Bocuse à la Carte, and Paul Bocuse: The Complete Recipes. His as-told-to memoir, Paul Bocuse: The Sacred Fire written with Eve-Marie Zizza-Lalu, was published in 2005. He died on January 20, 2018 at the age of 91.
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