Born into a coal-business family in Alsace, Jean-Georges Vongerichten left school at fifteen. He didn't enrol at a top culinary programme but he was apprenticed with renowned chefs, opened restaurants across the world and has cemented his legacy in the New York City food scene.

In JGV, with passion, humour and heart, Vongerichten tells the story of his mother's goose stew and of his first taste of tom yum kung soup. With recipes, every story is full of wisdom, conveyed with the magnanimity and precision that has made this chef's name. Including old handwritten menus and black-and-white photographs throughout, this is a book for young chefs as well as anyone who has stood at a stove and wondered what might be.