Chef de Lavigne learned to cook at the age of seven. After a brief career in accounting, she decided to ditch the world of spreadsheets and focus on her true passion: food. She now runs the first African-American-owned cooking school New Orleans Witnessed for more than 80 years, Cajun and Creole classics have thrilled hungry travelers.
If you enter New Orleans Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) In the historic Central City, you might smell something spicy and savory coming from the kitchens.
This building, which was once home to the old Dryades Market, is also the headquarters of the ru terrible - The first African-American-owned cooking school in New Orleans in over 80 years. The head chef is a lady known simply as 'Chef D'. Full name: Dwynesha Lavigne.
“I originally got a museum job during COVID,” says Dwynesha. “I recruited other chefs to come in for live demonstrations and pitch their products to help grow their customer base. I started teaching cooking classes—but I was following museum rules, and I caught myself thinking, ‘I can change this. I can do this better.’ So one day I asked them what If they wish to make history with me."
Dwynesha brought something radical to SoFAB: She was running cooking classes for the museum, helping travelers, visitors, and locals master the Southern food and Creole flavors of her hometown—but she wanted to own the school. It will be hers, and hers alone.
"It was something that was really missing in this field and the industry," says Dwynesha. "Not just for minority women like me, but for women in general. So I said, 'Listen, I want this to be mine. I want to own this.' And they agreed. I became the first African-American to own a cooking school in New Orleans in over 80 years."
not since Pioneer Lena Richard in 1949 - more than a decade before Julia Child's TV debut - a black woman owned a cooking school in town. Now there was another. "It's interesting when you think about the food culture in New Orleans," says Doensha. “Even though we have this huge influence of African Americans and Creoles, we don't have a lot of representation and ownership. That was one of the things I wanted to change.”
Dwynesha decided to serve the dishes she grew up with, here on the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, in the far east lower part of the city. "I started cooking when I was seven," she says. "Strangely, I have seven siblings. I'm one of six girls. So I watched mostly. I sat and watched a lot. And during that time, I was asking questions, but never cooking anything. In the end I said to my mom, 'I want to try it,'" she said. ’, ‘Okay, just don’t burn the house down.’ The rest is history.”
While studying accounting at the University of New Orleans, she realized that the world of numbers accounting was not for her. She has always enjoyed cooking, but has never tried it in any professional capacity. She decides to enroll in a community college, and soon finds herself at the Culinary Institute of America, the legendary CIA in New York - basically the Harvard of cooking schools. I graduated in 2003 and have never looked back.
In 2016, after working for Whole Foods Markets running their bakery division, Dwynesha launched her own business: Deelightful Cupcakes. Using the Southern Food and Beverage Museum as her collaborative kitchen, she has created a profitable business in New Orleans, catering to events and running sugar-laden cupcake deliveries. That is, until COVID came along. "Covid has really wrecked work," she admits. “Everyone was home. There were no office parties or social events. I knew I had to figure something out.”
Wisely, she has drawn on her existing relationship with SoFAB, a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving New Orleans' unique food culture. And that's where you'll find her today, cooking huge pots of jambalaya, or serving scrambled okra and bananas with visitors, locals, and intrepid travelers.
The menu is mostly Cajun and Creole - the food of Dwynesha's childhood - with plenty of Southern classics on the menu. Jumbo with dark roux, andouille sausage and chicken. Crunchy french bread with homemade butter. Blended okra and tomato. And large pitchers of Lussian Iced Tea to wash it all down, naturally.
"It feels surreal," Dwynesha admits. "It still doesn't feel like work. I want people to know that cooking is fun, and when you do it with more people, it gets even better. It's not a serious thing. Food is made for people to eat and survive. It brings people together, and I think people They feel like they are every time they come to my class.”
Thirsty for more? Browse our New Orleans flights Or find what works for you A food adventure.
Source link
0 Comments