[Applause]
all right so what is food it nourishes
us it satisfies hunger and it’s
essential for survival but like art
music movies and books food tells a
story that we can pass on to generations
it is one of the oldest forms of
communication and connection and it’s
extremely powerful it defines us it
tells us who we are tells us where we’re
from it’s part of our identity how many
of you guys in the audience have that
one relative that brings that one dish
to the Thanksgiving table mm-hmm and if
that dish wasn’t there something would
be missing it wouldn’t be the same
now how many of you know how to make
that dish like really make it like have
made it with that person
so that’s the disconnect and this is
this is one thing that really scares me
is that you know we’re losing our
families stories through food I feel
it’s our our obligation it’s a powerful
responsibility that we have now I grew
up about three hours east of a small
town called Abbeville Louisiana and this
is Cajun country like really Cajun
country this is where the old-timers are
found in the back smoky bar speaking
French and playing a game called booray
which is Cajun poker and the Cajuns they
came down from Nova Scotia
they settled in south Louisiana very
difficult area to settle in you know but
they survived they survived by living
off the land hunting fishing and
trapping they’re resilient people
and you know they continue to thrive not
only survive but thrive today and they
have such a strong work ethic a work
ethic that I think that was passed down
to me through my aunt boo Nambu goes by
many titles she’s the godmother of at
least a dozen kids that I know of
she’s my godmother she’s aunt Jan she’s
Jana’s bougwan and like the title of her
first cookbook
she’s the High Priestess of the bayou
now growing up in New Orleans when my
parents that had enough and we’re kind
of at their ropes end with me they’d
send me to Abbeville to kind of get my
head on straight and have aunt booth
straighten me out and I knew that going
there I’d have this laundry list of
chores but the other thing that I knew
that I can always count on walking into
the kitchen at Aunt boos house in
Abbeville was that I have at least two
pounds of hot steaming Buddha wrapped in
white butcher paper with a pack of
saltine crackers waiting for me in the
kitchen and boudin is a Cajun pork
sausage that’s filled with rice and
spices and while eating this boudin and
truly that was my welcoming card this is
this is when I knew that I was in
Abbeville I had to have it and she knew
that and we get it from this one place
called rish ARDS and you know be sitting
there eating the boudin and and snacking
on the crackers and she’d always be busy
in the kitchen and you know I’m talking
about like duck carcasses everywhere
from local hunters you know fish scales
all over the sink and but she’d always
have something on the stove always and
she was always in her apron and the joke
is I can we think that she sleeps in her
apron because she she’s going to the
grocery store in her apron she’s
accidentally going out to restaurants to
meet me for lunch in her apron and she’s
got a big ol pocket and like kind of the
center of the apron and it’s always got
some you know really crass sort of
vulgar saying on the apron but she’d
always tuck a koozie in inner apron as
well because you never know when you’re
gonna need a koozie and
ham poo was the master of stirring and
cooking with one hand because like most
Louisianians and Luisi
you know you learned to cook with one
hand because you reserved that other
hand for a nice cold beer and you know I
would ask the questions that my younger
cousins wooden because they didn’t care
about what she was doing they were just
hungry but for me as I got older I would
I started asking her questions about
what she was doing in the kitchen and I
guess I was asking the right questions
coz she started paying attention to me
she invited me into her kitchen and
she’d start answering me and years later
I remember her saying to me you know
David if you really really want to learn
where you come from and in the sort of
the history of Louisiana and you want to
learn about Louisiana cuisine you have
to learn the very first thing which is
how to make a roux a roux what’s a rule
well rule is the name of my yellow lab
it’s also the vanity plates on my Harley
with the roux that she was referring to
that day was two simple ingredients that
everybody here has in their pantry and a
fat and flour oil and flour equal parts
but combined and cooked to the right
color Roux is the heartbeat of Louisiana
cuisine I can tell you I remember stir
in the roux and you know typical
impatient teenager and you know I was
like when is it gonna be ready when is
it gonna be ready because if you don’t
know Roux takes a very long time and you
can’t be an impatient teenager stirring
rule so I practice and it forced me to
sort of focus and and stand still but I
remember her telling me that you’ll know
when it’s ready when the color of the
roux is like the bayou after a heavy
rain and you know I immediately identify
with that and that’s the kind of cook
amp who was she made it real she made it
real bringing in the local environment
or whatever and and she was just very
grounded like that she always talked
just just you immediately associated
with what she was talking about
I continue to lean on her over the years
asking her for advice and I remember
trying to make a decision about whether
or not I wanted to go to culinary school
and she gave me some wonderful advice I
can’t tell you what that is right next I
don’t remember but it was sound advice
but you know to this day whether I ask
her or not she continues to give me her
two cents about my Louisiana cooking but
you know she’s the one that bought me my
first cast-iron pot she’s the one that
taught me the importance of using a
wooden spoon versus a metal spoon so in
Louisiana there is a saying and it’s
actually the the title of a cookbook but
you know we say who’s your mama
is she Catholic and can she make a roux
and that kind of sums up roux for
Louisianians and for me but fast-forward
August 29th 2005 Katrina slams into the
Gulf Coast the city of New Orleans is
you ate to Houston and it wasn’t four
months later that they decided not to
move back to New Orleans and rebuild
even though I had been living in DC now
for at this time for seven years I
really really struggled with their
decision very selfish of me but I
struggle with it because for me home is
always where your mom and dad are and
the fact that they were uprooted you
know I really started to question my
identity in my childhood and everything
about growing up in that incredible city
so I started like frantically writing
things down that I remember about
growing up in New Orleans and I did it
really for my boys you know I wanted to
document things before I couldn’t
remember him anymore and after writing
down all this kind of frantically over
months and months I realized I had
pretty much written my first cookbook
because every single thing that I
remember about the city of New Orleans
growing up there had a food connection
every single thing and one connected to
the other so published my first cookbook
started to work on the concept for my
first restaurant and again the
restaurant had to be all about Louisiana
I wanted to walk into work everyday and
be reminded of home just the same way
that I walked in her kitchen and saw
that boudin it told me everything was
gonna be okay
it was an instant welcoming card and
still after eight years in the
restaurant I can see Louisianians and
other southern folk come in the
restaurant and they’re like immediately
looking for things to like latch on to
so they’re looking through the menu
they’re trying to find they’re skimming
and they’re flipping it over
they’re digging they’re looking for a
dish that they recognize they’re looking
at the decor of the restaurant and you
can kind of all of a sudden see this
sort of sigh of relief that they’re in
the right place and that’s important to
me because that’s how we identify
ourselves and grounds us in our identity
you don’t have to be a professional chef
to connect in the kitchen to tell
stories in the kitchen you don’t have to
be a restaurant owner it’s not one of
those things that’s important but
remembering that one dish not making it
to the table you know this is this is
this is where the the the real call of
action is because we have an obligation
for the next generation to continue to
tell our family stories through this
food through the food through our
cuisine so if you haven’t if you’re one
of those that doesn’t know how to make
that dish because that family member is
not always going to be at the table it’s
important that you connect you reach out
now and try to connect with them try to
make that dish start to finish because
just like aunt boo those stories just
started to flow when I was in the
kitchen with her and I learned a lot
about myself my family and who I was and
where I came from all over a pot of Roux
so I invite you to go out there and buy
your first cast-iron pan and grab that
wooden spoon and start stirring the room
thank you you
all right so what is food it nourishes
us it satisfies hunger and it’s
essential for survival but like art
music movies and books food tells a
story that we can pass on to generations
it is one of the oldest forms of
communication and connection and it’s
extremely powerful it defines us it
tells us who we are tells us where we’re
from it’s part of our identity how many
of you guys in the audience have that
one relative that brings that one dish
to the Thanksgiving table mm-hmm and if
that dish wasn’t there something would
be missing it wouldn’t be the same
now how many of you know how to make
that dish like really make it like have
made it with that person
so that’s the disconnect and this is
this is one thing that really scares me
is that you know we’re losing our
families stories through food I feel
it’s our our obligation it’s a powerful
responsibility that we have now I grew
up about three hours east of a small
town called Abbeville Louisiana and this
is Cajun country like really Cajun
country this is where the old-timers are
found in the back smoky bar speaking
French and playing a game called booray
which is Cajun poker and the Cajuns they
came down from Nova Scotia
they settled in south Louisiana very
difficult area to settle in you know but
they survived they survived by living
off the land hunting fishing and
trapping they’re resilient people
and you know they continue to thrive not
only survive but thrive today and they
have such a strong work ethic a work
ethic that I think that was passed down
to me through my aunt boo Nambu goes by
many titles she’s the godmother of at
least a dozen kids that I know of
she’s my godmother she’s aunt Jan she’s
Jana’s bougwan and like the title of her
first cookbook
she’s the High Priestess of the bayou
now growing up in New Orleans when my
parents that had enough and we’re kind
of at their ropes end with me they’d
send me to Abbeville to kind of get my
head on straight and have aunt booth
straighten me out and I knew that going
there I’d have this laundry list of
chores but the other thing that I knew
that I can always count on walking into
the kitchen at Aunt boos house in
Abbeville was that I have at least two
pounds of hot steaming Buddha wrapped in
white butcher paper with a pack of
saltine crackers waiting for me in the
kitchen and boudin is a Cajun pork
sausage that’s filled with rice and
spices and while eating this boudin and
truly that was my welcoming card this is
this is when I knew that I was in
Abbeville I had to have it and she knew
that and we get it from this one place
called rish ARDS and you know be sitting
there eating the boudin and and snacking
on the crackers and she’d always be busy
in the kitchen and you know I’m talking
about like duck carcasses everywhere
from local hunters you know fish scales
all over the sink and but she’d always
have something on the stove always and
she was always in her apron and the joke
is I can we think that she sleeps in her
apron because she she’s going to the
grocery store in her apron she’s
accidentally going out to restaurants to
meet me for lunch in her apron and she’s
got a big ol pocket and like kind of the
center of the apron and it’s always got
some you know really crass sort of
vulgar saying on the apron but she’d
always tuck a koozie in inner apron as
well because you never know when you’re
gonna need a koozie and
ham poo was the master of stirring and
cooking with one hand because like most
Louisianians and Luisi
you know you learned to cook with one
hand because you reserved that other
hand for a nice cold beer and you know I
would ask the questions that my younger
cousins wooden because they didn’t care
about what she was doing they were just
hungry but for me as I got older I would
I started asking her questions about
what she was doing in the kitchen and I
guess I was asking the right questions
coz she started paying attention to me
she invited me into her kitchen and
she’d start answering me and years later
I remember her saying to me you know
David if you really really want to learn
where you come from and in the sort of
the history of Louisiana and you want to
learn about Louisiana cuisine you have
to learn the very first thing which is
how to make a roux a roux what’s a rule
well rule is the name of my yellow lab
it’s also the vanity plates on my Harley
with the roux that she was referring to
that day was two simple ingredients that
everybody here has in their pantry and a
fat and flour oil and flour equal parts
but combined and cooked to the right
color Roux is the heartbeat of Louisiana
cuisine I can tell you I remember stir
in the roux and you know typical
impatient teenager and you know I was
like when is it gonna be ready when is
it gonna be ready because if you don’t
know Roux takes a very long time and you
can’t be an impatient teenager stirring
rule so I practice and it forced me to
sort of focus and and stand still but I
remember her telling me that you’ll know
when it’s ready when the color of the
roux is like the bayou after a heavy
rain and you know I immediately identify
with that and that’s the kind of cook
amp who was she made it real she made it
real bringing in the local environment
or whatever and and she was just very
grounded like that she always talked
just just you immediately associated
with what she was talking about
I continue to lean on her over the years
asking her for advice and I remember
trying to make a decision about whether
or not I wanted to go to culinary school
and she gave me some wonderful advice I
can’t tell you what that is right next I
don’t remember but it was sound advice
but you know to this day whether I ask
her or not she continues to give me her
two cents about my Louisiana cooking but
you know she’s the one that bought me my
first cast-iron pot she’s the one that
taught me the importance of using a
wooden spoon versus a metal spoon so in
Louisiana there is a saying and it’s
actually the the title of a cookbook but
you know we say who’s your mama
is she Catholic and can she make a roux
and that kind of sums up roux for
Louisianians and for me but fast-forward
August 29th 2005 Katrina slams into the
Gulf Coast the city of New Orleans is
you ate to Houston and it wasn’t four
months later that they decided not to
move back to New Orleans and rebuild
even though I had been living in DC now
for at this time for seven years I
really really struggled with their
decision very selfish of me but I
struggle with it because for me home is
always where your mom and dad are and
the fact that they were uprooted you
know I really started to question my
identity in my childhood and everything
about growing up in that incredible city
so I started like frantically writing
things down that I remember about
growing up in New Orleans and I did it
really for my boys you know I wanted to
document things before I couldn’t
remember him anymore and after writing
down all this kind of frantically over
months and months I realized I had
pretty much written my first cookbook
because every single thing that I
remember about the city of New Orleans
growing up there had a food connection
every single thing and one connected to
the other so published my first cookbook
started to work on the concept for my
first restaurant and again the
restaurant had to be all about Louisiana
I wanted to walk into work everyday and
be reminded of home just the same way
that I walked in her kitchen and saw
that boudin it told me everything was
gonna be okay
it was an instant welcoming card and
still after eight years in the
restaurant I can see Louisianians and
other southern folk come in the
restaurant and they’re like immediately
looking for things to like latch on to
so they’re looking through the menu
they’re trying to find they’re skimming
and they’re flipping it over
they’re digging they’re looking for a
dish that they recognize they’re looking
at the decor of the restaurant and you
can kind of all of a sudden see this
sort of sigh of relief that they’re in
the right place and that’s important to
me because that’s how we identify
ourselves and grounds us in our identity
you don’t have to be a professional chef
to connect in the kitchen to tell
stories in the kitchen you don’t have to
be a restaurant owner it’s not one of
those things that’s important but
remembering that one dish not making it
to the table you know this is this is
this is where the the the real call of
action is because we have an obligation
for the next generation to continue to
tell our family stories through this
food through the food through our
cuisine so if you haven’t if you’re one
of those that doesn’t know how to make
that dish because that family member is
not always going to be at the table it’s
important that you connect you reach out
now and try to connect with them try to
make that dish start to finish because
just like aunt boo those stories just
started to flow when I was in the
kitchen with her and I learned a lot
about myself my family and who I was and
where I came from all over a pot of Roux
so I invite you to go out there and buy
your first cast-iron pan and grab that
wooden spoon and start stirring the room
thank you you
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