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MANILA, Philippines - Who is the Louisiana chef and restaurant owner, a leading authority on Cajun and Creole cuisine and culture, who was the first non-Italian chef to cater a Vatican state dinner in Rome?
He was born in 1946 in St. James Parish, Lousiana, and learned early on that the secrets of Cajun cooking lay in the unique ingredients of Louisana’s swamp floor pantry.
When he opened Lafitte’s Landing Restaurant in 1978 in Donaldsonville, he set out to market his restaurant by taking “a taste of Louisiana” worldwide.
He introduced Louisiana’s indigenous cuisine to Japan in 1985,Beijing in 1986, and Hong Kong and Paris in 1987. The following year, he made international headlines with the opening of Lafitte’s Landing East in Moscow during the Presidential Summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.
In 1989, he was the first non-Italian chef to create the Vatican state dinner in Rome.
He opened many restaurants overseas in succeeding years — London in 1991 and 1993;Bogota in 1991; Taipei in 1992 and 1994; and Seoul in 1994.
In 1988, the sales and marketing executives of Greater Baton Rouge named him Marketer of the Year while the Louisiana Legislature gave him the title Lousiana’s Culinary Ambassador to the World.
He has made Louisiana’s food and culture known through his eight cookbooks including Plantation Celebrations, a cookbook focusing on recipes whose origins can be traced to the plantations along the Mississippi River; Hot Beignets and Warm Boudoirs, a guide to Louisiana’s bed-and- breakfast inns and their recipes which he co-authored; and The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine in 2004. His other cookbooks include The Evolution of Cajun and Creole Cuisine, Louisiana Sampler, Black Magic: 100 Years of Cast-Iron Cooking, Something Old and Something New, and After the Hunt: Louisiana’s Authoritative Collection of Wild Game and Game and Fish Cookery.
A Taste of Louisiana is his first international television series, which has been produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting since 1990. His radio cooking talk show Stirrin’ it Up expanded into a cooking segment during the 5 p.m. newscast on WAFB-TV Channel 9 in Baton Rouge.
He is one of the few chefs with his own food manufacturing company in America producing custom- manufactured food for the retail and food industry.
He has been the recipient of numerous culinary awards and recognitions. In 1987, he was named Louisiana’s Restaurateur of the Year by the state’s restaurant association; as National Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation in 1990; and as president of the American Culinary Federation in 1994. He was featured in a Time magazine cover story in 1996 on fat-free cooking.
His legacy lives on in the Culinary Institute at Nichols State University named after him, which opened in 1994, and is dedicated to the preservation of Louisiana’s rich culinary and cultural heritage. Thirty years of culinary experience later, he is still adding ingredients to the corporate gumbo that is his own company, which is as diverse as the Louisiana landscape and he would not want it any other way.
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Last week’s question: Who is the Italian- American cookery writer credited with introducing the public to the techniques of traditional Italian cooking and is widely credited with starting the craze for balsamic vinegar?
Answer: Marcella Hazan
Winner: Eva A. Arzaga, Batasan, Quezon City
Text your answer to 0905-3142614 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call the store manager at 634-1950, 634-1943. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
