Dillard University Plans First Creole Food Seminar
Day of Lectures Is Free
March 9, 2015
Judy Walker
The Times-Picayune
Dillard University is planning their first-ever culinary conference and workshop exploring the deep African-American background of local cooking. "The Story of New Orleans Creole Cuisine: The Black Hand in the Pot" will be held April 16-17 at the university's Georges Auditorium and Whitney Plantation.
The conference will focus on the history and origins of Creole cuisine through the civil rights era.
"Creole cuisine has a West and Central African culinary grammar as well as a vocabulary. We need to resurrect the forgotten black cooks that were, a century ago, widely praised," keynote speaker Michael Twitty said in an email interview.
"We left them behind because of the racial stereotyping and the celebration of the status quo, but now it's time to laud them as individuals with creative genius and personal fire."
Author and blogger Twitty (Afroculinaria.com) is a culinary historian based in the Washington area and has been profiled in Garden and Gun. He will be on the agenda at the full day of panels and lectures April 16 at Dillard. Twitty also will present a cooking demonstration on April 17 in the historic kitchen at the Whitney Plantation in Wallace.
The April 16 events, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., are free and open to the public, and reservations are not needed, said Zella Palmer, director of the Ray Charles Program in Material Culture, although groups who want to attend should give notice. Palmer has reached out to local culinary students at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Café Reconcile and so on.
On the program:
Ibrahima Seck, academic director of the Whitney Plantation and Senagalese historian, will present "Memory Dishes from Gritsland and Riceland." The Whitney Plantation, the country's first museum dedicated to slavery, was the subject of a recent New York Times article.
Civil rights activist A.P. Tureaud Jr. will talk about Louisiana cuisine and its relation to civil rights activism.
Liz Williams, director of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, will speak on "Before There Was Martha Stewart, There Was Lena Richard" and the life of the culinary icon.
New Orleans Creole historian Barbara Trevigne will talk about the ingenuity of the Creole street vendors in New Orleans.
"From Palm Fronds to Crawfish Ponds: Religion and Food in the Black Community and How It Relates to Creole Cuisine" is the topic of educator, master gardener and caterer Austin Sonnier.
Dillard professor, poet and folklorist Mona Lisa Saloy will talk about "Creole Cuisine in Literature."
Palmer will speak about "Uncovering the Culinary History of Dillard University, 1935-2014."
On April 17, Twitty's culinary workshops at the kitchen at the Whitney Plantation will cost $30 per person, which includes transportation and a tour.
Advance tickets are recommended, as the workshops are limited to 40.
Palmer said part of the genesis of the seminar was the December death of civil rights activist Rudy Lombard, author of "Creole Feast."
"Dr. Lombard had done so much for Dillard and the African-American community and New Orleans in general," Palmer said. "We wanted to continue his research and put together panels to tell the story of New Orleans Creole cooking, and to celebrate and acknowledge the African-American contribution to world-famous New Orleans cuisine."
The seminar is presented in partnership with the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Palmer said. The LEH and the Edgar "Dooky" Jr. and Leah Chase Family Foundation funded the seminar with grants.
Twitty, whose book from Harper Collins is due out in 2016, said this will be his first trip to the Whitney Plantation. He visited New Orleans on his "Southern Discomfort" tour and felt spirits in Armstrong Park so strongly he broke down and cried, he said.
"I'm very excited," Twitty said of his part in the seminar. "This will be a major opportunity to bring life to African-Louisiana foodways and show people the roots of today's cuisine in a completely appropriate cultural landscape.
"Food is memory and food is a flag. It's the power to name processes and legacies in the absence of other rich details, about who our ancestors were and how they lived.
"This is restorative work."
* * *
Food editor Judy Walker can be reached at jwalker@nola.com. Follow her on Twitter (@JudyWalkerCooks) and Facebook (JudyWalkerCooks).
Day of Lectures Is Free
March 9, 2015
Judy Walker
The Times-Picayune
 |
Zella Palmer and Leah Chase. As Dillard University's director of the Ray Charles program, Palmer has put together the university's first conference on Creole cuisine. The Edgar "Dooky" Jr. and Leah Chase Family Foundation gave a grant to the conference. (The NOLA.com |Times-Picayune archive)
|
The conference will focus on the history and origins of Creole cuisine through the civil rights era.
"Creole cuisine has a West and Central African culinary grammar as well as a vocabulary. We need to resurrect the forgotten black cooks that were, a century ago, widely praised," keynote speaker Michael Twitty said in an email interview.
"We left them behind because of the racial stereotyping and the celebration of the status quo, but now it's time to laud them as individuals with creative genius and personal fire."
 | |
| Culinary historian Michael Twitty will be the keynote speaker at Dillard University's first conference on Creole cuisine. (Afroculinaria.com photo) |
The April 16 events, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., are free and open to the public, and reservations are not needed, said Zella Palmer, director of the Ray Charles Program in Material Culture, although groups who want to attend should give notice. Palmer has reached out to local culinary students at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Café Reconcile and so on.
On the program:
 |
| The cover of "Bouki Fait Gombo" by Senagalese scholar Ibrahima Seck, who will speak at Dillard University's first conference on Creole cuisine, depicts the detached kitchen where the second day of the conference will take place. Seck is academic director at Whitney Plantation. (UNO Press) |
Civil rights activist A.P. Tureaud Jr. will talk about Louisiana cuisine and its relation to civil rights activism.
Liz Williams, director of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, will speak on "Before There Was Martha Stewart, There Was Lena Richard" and the life of the culinary icon.
 | ||
| New Orleans native and Creole historian Barbara Trevigne will speak at the first Dillard University conference on Creole cuisine about the ingenuity of Creole street vendors. (The NOLA.com |Times-Picayune archive) |
"From Palm Fronds to Crawfish Ponds: Religion and Food in the Black Community and How It Relates to Creole Cuisine" is the topic of educator, master gardener and caterer Austin Sonnier.
 |
| Professor Mona Lisa Saloy will speak at Dillard University's first conference on Creole cuisine and its history. (MonaLisaSaloy.com photo) |
Palmer will speak about "Uncovering the Culinary History of Dillard University, 1935-2014."
On April 17, Twitty's culinary workshops at the kitchen at the Whitney Plantation will cost $30 per person, which includes transportation and a tour.
Advance tickets are recommended, as the workshops are limited to 40.
 |
| The legacy of Rudy Lombard, who died in December 2014, helped inspire Dillard University's first conference on Creole cuisine. (The NOLA.com |Times-Picayune archive) |
"Dr. Lombard had done so much for Dillard and the African-American community and New Orleans in general," Palmer said. "We wanted to continue his research and put together panels to tell the story of New Orleans Creole cooking, and to celebrate and acknowledge the African-American contribution to world-famous New Orleans cuisine."
The seminar is presented in partnership with the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Palmer said. The LEH and the Edgar "Dooky" Jr. and Leah Chase Family Foundation funded the seminar with grants.
Twitty, whose book from Harper Collins is due out in 2016, said this will be his first trip to the Whitney Plantation. He visited New Orleans on his "Southern Discomfort" tour and felt spirits in Armstrong Park so strongly he broke down and cried, he said.
"I'm very excited," Twitty said of his part in the seminar. "This will be a major opportunity to bring life to African-Louisiana foodways and show people the roots of today's cuisine in a completely appropriate cultural landscape.
"Food is memory and food is a flag. It's the power to name processes and legacies in the absence of other rich details, about who our ancestors were and how they lived.
"This is restorative work."
* * *
Food editor Judy Walker can be reached at jwalker@nola.com. Follow her on Twitter (@JudyWalkerCooks) and Facebook (JudyWalkerCooks).
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