New Orleans Soul City Season 1 Episode 1

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New Orleans Soul City Season 1 Episode 1 #Cineva USA https://www.dailymotion.com/Cineva

Transcript

00:00If you leave here and get back home, you're going to gain about 10 pounds.

00:02Food means everything to New Orleans.

00:05It's extremely delicious.

00:06I can't think of another place anywhere, including Paris,

00:09where food is so central to the culture and the economy.

00:14You really, truly have to be here.

00:16You have to feel it. You have to smell it.

00:18The biggest conversation at lunch is where are we going for dinner?

00:22New Orleans has always been a food culture

00:25in which storytelling is very central to it.

00:28The story that has been pulled ad nauseum about New Orleans food

00:31has been, to a large degree, incomplete.

00:35It's a story that's been hijacked in many ways over the years,

00:38simplified, whitewashed.

00:40People do not want to talk about the past.

00:46How you decide who sort of gets the credit for it,

00:49it's a story that's been ignored.

00:58Bam, bam, bam.

01:19When people think about New Orleans food,

01:44they think about gumbo,

01:47jambalaya,

01:48mufaletas,

01:49po'boys,

01:50beignets.

01:51And it's a place where people around the world want to come,

01:54and one of the primary sources of pride.

01:57And we have this rich heritage built over the last centuries

02:07from many, many cultural sources.

02:09It's like a tapestry.

02:10We have restaurants here that are older than most cities in America.

02:17There's tremendous respect for tradition.

02:21I'm a New Orleans chef.

02:22I'm fourth generation New Orleanian.

02:23I recognize pretty quickly,

02:30I am just part of a continuum.

02:34Creole cuisine has been passed down from generation to generation

02:38in the kitchens of our restaurants,

02:40in the homes that we grew up in.

02:42What really put New Orleans food on the map

02:45was the televising of Creole food.

02:49Celebrity chef culture in many ways was born here,

02:51with the chef Paul Prudhomme and Femir Lagasse,

02:54who followed him.

02:56Paul was, you know, he was a magician.

02:58If Paul Prudhomme is stirring the pot,

03:00you're going to remember what was in it.

03:02He did a lot for New Orleans and Louisiana,

03:06and he really put Creole Cajun cuisine on the map.

03:09Right next to the swamp,

03:10that's where I was born and raised.

03:12It's a pleasure being here, it really is.

03:13I got to work with chef Paul Prudhomme in my apprentice years

03:17when I got hired at Commander's Palace in the late 70s.

03:20The Commander's Palace in New Orleans,

03:23one of the finest restaurants in the Crescent City.

03:26He started tweaking the menu at Commander's.

03:29I was standing next to Paul when he blackened the first redfish.

03:33I'm over here busy prepping, going to get ready,

03:35and he drops it in his black iron skillet

03:38and the smoke billowing up,

03:39and I'm like...

03:41Placed it in his skillet that was hot enough

03:44to ignite the oils of the fish in the butter.

03:46They're calling it blackened redfish.

03:48And then he turned it over,

03:49and it was like all blackened on top.

03:51Then he puts it on a plate and says,

03:52here, Frank, taste this.

03:54Skeptically took a bite.

03:56My God, it's the best fish I've had in my life.

03:59Everybody got caught up in this thing with redfish.

04:01Paul Prudhomme, the famous New Orleans chef

04:03whose blackened redfish was so popular,

04:05it all but depleted the supply of redfish in Louisiana.

04:08Paul made it so popular,

04:10and you'd go to Providence, Rhode Island,

04:11and they'd have blackened redfish on a menu in a restaurant.

04:14He became almost an ambassador for the food of Louisiana,

04:19and people started to feel that Louisiana food was special.

04:22Good cooking, good eating, good loving.

04:25That's what this turducky is.

04:27I love you guys.

04:29Thanks very much, Paul.

04:30We appreciate it.

04:31After Paul left Commander's Palace,

04:34the person hired to replace him.

04:3828-year-old Emeril Lagasse.

04:41This kid from Fall River, Massachusetts.

04:43I was a big fan of Paul,

04:45but I wasn't like a master of Creole Cajun cooking.

04:50But what I did is I never disrespected tradition.

04:54I just built on tradition.

04:55On my days off, I went on fishing boats,

05:00looked at various farms in Louisiana,

05:02and I started working with these farmers and fishermen very closely.

05:07I learned about the true flavor of Louisiana cooking.

05:11Well, we have some fresh strawberries with Creole cream cheese.

05:15Emeril would go on to author the playbook

05:17and what it meant to be a famous chef on TV.

05:20You come way back over here, and you just go, bam!

05:23It felt like everyone knew bam.

05:25Bam! Bam!

05:26Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

05:28Paul Pernod and I think Emeril Lagasse

05:31had a real big hand

05:33in just kind of announcing to the world,

05:37like, hey, we're in New Orleans,

05:39and, like, y'all should check out this food.

05:41This is amazing food.

05:43A very common question is,

05:46what's the difference between Cajun and Creole?

05:48It kind of got all lumped together into Louisiana cooking.

05:52Paul Prudhomme was a Cajun man

05:56working at a Creole restaurant,

05:59and it was very confusing for people

06:02because they didn't know the difference

06:03between Cajun and Creole.

06:05Journalists didn't know the difference.

06:07They called it Cajun Creole food

06:09or Creole-Cajun food.

06:11So to simplify things,

06:13Acadian cooking, or what's slang for Cajun,

06:16it's Acadians that settled here in the 1700s

06:19from outside of Nova Scotia

06:21that live off the land and live off the bayous.

06:26Creole is the city version of Louisiana cooking.

06:29When people talk about Creole cuisine,

06:31on a really basic level,

06:33we're talking about traditional New Orleans food.

06:35We're trying to differentiate it from Cajun food,

06:38which is a rural expression.

06:41Creole is a mixture of many cultures.

06:44It's New World culture.

06:45It began with the Portuguese word criollo.

06:48However, when we talk about creolization

06:50or we talk about Creole culture,

06:51we have to remember that the creolization

06:53didn't actually begin in the United States.

06:55It began in Africa.

06:57You can't overstate the contributions

07:00that enslaved Africans made

07:02to the creation of New Orleans cuisine.

07:05You know, that contribution has been understated.

07:08In fact, understated is probably too mild a word.

07:11It's been ignored.

07:12One, two, let me count them up.

07:30Three.

07:31A little small today, huh?

07:32Get ready.

07:32The greatest thing about New Orleans for me

07:40is there's a melting pot.

07:42Every culture contributes to this city,

07:45and that's what makes it great.

07:47I think, to me, New Orleans is the only city in America

07:49that has its own identity

07:50because of the food, right?

07:54One of my first experiences of having a dish

07:59that folks might consider this New Orleans in

08:02was beignets.

08:03Café du Mont.

08:04You know, they've been around for 100 years plus.

08:08When I finally got to the window,

08:10it's like, how many beignets you want?

08:12I was like, yeah, sure, three.

08:16I took a bite.

08:18I said, oh, beignets.

08:20He was like, no, no, no, beignets.

08:23I was like, beignets.

08:24He was like, no, no, no, no, it's beignets

08:25because the Senegal is called beignets.

08:28Without the S.

08:30That's when it really clicked for me,

08:32and I think that's when I began to realize

08:33about the connection between Senegal and New Orleans.

08:36I did not know nothing of the connection prior to coming.

08:40It's the beautiful redfish.

08:42We're topped with leeks.

08:43Facebook leeks on top.

08:44Bottom, you'll find a little bit of butternut squash.

08:47Pea, you think, point.

08:48If you've ever tried Senegalese cuisine,

08:51it is very similar to New Orleans cuisine.

08:53Because Senegal is colonized by French.

08:56New Orleans used to be a French territory.

08:58So you see a lot of similarities between the two.

09:00The first slaves came in 1719 from the Senegambian region.

09:06So the Senegalese influence is huge in New Orleans culture.

09:10If you go all the way back to the beginning,

09:13New Orleans was a place where things came together.

09:17The native people of the different tribes that were in this region

09:21came together here because all the waters came together.

09:24The French, they send two brothers from French Canada,

09:27the Le Moyne brothers,

09:28and they establish a French colonial presence here.

09:32They were influenced by the native people.

09:35This fish is good.

09:37Here's how you catch the shrimp.

09:38Here's some alligator.

09:40The white Europeans, they had no skills.

09:44They'd never farmed before.

09:45They didn't know how to do anything.

09:47Early on, the French started bringing in enslaved Africans

09:52to Louisiana Territory, to New Orleans.

09:55There was some duality and complexity

09:58during the French and colonial period.

10:01You had white people, you had enslaved people,

10:05and then you had people of African descent

10:09who were called free people of color,

10:12and they could own property.

10:15There wasn't a belief that everyone who was of African descent

10:20was automatically a slave.

10:24After the Louisiana Purchase, everything changed.

10:28December 20, 1803, there's a ceremony,

10:31present-day Jackson Square,

10:32where the French flag comes down for the last time

10:36and the American flag goes up.

10:37When Americans came here,

10:40they wanted to move away from giving any loophole

10:46for there to be free people of color

10:49because the idea was to profit and profit and profit.

10:55And how do we do that?

10:57We do that off of enslaved labor.

11:02The city of New Orleans becomes

11:04the largest slave-trading city in the nation.

11:07People would come to New Orleans to buy slaves,

11:12and it was done in these hotels,

11:14and the auction blocks were in ballrooms,

11:19and people were eating these lavish meals and drinking.

11:24Imagine what it must have been like

11:26to see these auction blocks

11:28and human beings being sold everywhere.

11:31But at the same time,

11:33you can go and have this elaborate meal

11:37and hear opera and go to coffee houses

11:41and hear transactions of people

11:43talking about selling human beings.

11:47New Orleans became a destination.

11:50People would talk about how the food was so important

11:56and so different that it became its own curiosity.

12:01We have a real cuisine in New Orleans.

12:04It is not just a collection of dishes.

12:06This is something that everyone eats,

12:08and people just fell in love with it.

12:10All the many dishes we have in Louisiana cuisine,

12:16the one that singularly defines who we are is gumbo.

12:22What is gumbo?

12:22Where does it come from?

12:24The word gumbo comes from an African word,

12:28kin gumbo, which means okra.

12:31So in Senegal, we have this dish called soup kanya.

12:36So as you can see, the pot is almost coming to a boil.

12:39So soup means soup, and kanya means okra.

12:43But soup kanya is pretty much

12:44a classic New Orleans gumbo.

12:47Classic New Orleans gumbo is okra and seafood.

12:49My mom's soup kanya is okra and seafood.

13:01The more I cook, the more I realize.

13:03Jamalaya, etouffee, all those classic New Orleans dishes,

13:06I could trace back to dishes in Senegal

13:08that have very similar roots into it.

13:10And I think that's why I'm so tied to this city,

13:13because New Orleans is a place that really reminds me of home.

13:18I feel like I was born here.

13:19It's extremely delicious.

13:20You gotta taste it.

13:21You think I'm lying.

13:22You gotta taste it.

13:31Once slavery ended, that's where it gets interesting.

13:41That's where the advent of cookbooks came about.

13:44Now that you no longer had enslaved labor,

13:47Confederate widows who lost everything,

13:50who didn't have the access to wealth that they once had,

13:54they still had to remain part of Creole society.

13:58These women, after the Civil War,

14:02gathered the information, the recipes from black women

14:05to create cookbooks.

14:07They needed manuals to make sure

14:10that they could direct domestics on how to cook,

14:13stand over them,

14:14oh, you're not doing this right.

14:16That was, you know, this attempt to rewrite history

14:21and say, I give my recipes to my cook.

14:25It's not a cook's recipe, it's my recipe.

14:29And so when you think of the,

14:31what the sort of problem is here

14:33in terms of the white people

14:34who are doing the storytelling

14:35and the cookbook writing, the whitewashing,

14:37I mean, it was deep and vast.

14:39You just didn't have a system

14:40that told the story of African-American contributions

14:45to New Orleans cuisine,

14:47much less the contributions of enslaved Africans.

14:51During the Jim Crow era,

14:52black folks worked in restaurants.

14:54Preparing two or 300 meals at one mealtime

14:57is routine for these boys.

14:59But they weren't allowed to eat in them.

15:01And they certainly weren't owning the restaurants

15:03that the white people who were doing the storytelling

15:06and the cookbook writing were eating in.

15:10But particularly black women in New Orleans

15:13owned sandwich shops where you could get a drink,

15:16you could get a beer, and you can get a po' boy.

15:18However, there weren't any fine dining establishments

15:22during the Jim Crow South for any African-Americans.

15:26Miss Leah Chase, the late legendary queen of Creole cuisine,

15:31she saw that as a potential,

15:34and she saw an opportunity, and she ran with it.

15:37Leah Chase, this country's grand dame of Creole cooking.

15:40Miss Jay, thank you for having us here.

15:43She elevated Creole culture and cuisine

15:46because she was adamant about serving

15:49and her love for Creole cuisine.

15:51For me, nothing tastes better than cholesterol.

15:54I like that.

15:55Leah was a very special lady.

15:57She ran a great restaurant,

15:58still one of my favorites, Dookie Chase.

16:01There's tremendous tradition at Dookie Chase.

16:04Dookie Chase was founded by my grandparents,

16:06Emily Tenette and Edgar Chase, Sr.

16:11My grandmother opened a po' boy stand in 1939

16:15that was very successful.

16:17Now, when my mother came in,

16:19she began trying new dishes,

16:21and my grandmother took another roll

16:23and let my mother rule the kitchen.

16:27Leah Chase married into the Chase family

16:29and sort of inherited that restaurant,

16:31the height of segregation,

16:32at a time when she and people who looked like her

16:35weren't allowed to go to these big French Creole places

16:38in the French Quarter.

16:40She thought African Americans

16:42ought to have a place like that that they could go to.

16:45That was days of segregation,

16:47and you couldn't, there was no place

16:48that would accept blacks, you know?

16:50It was the thing those days.

16:53And what she wanted to say is,

16:54in my community, we're going to certainly have

16:56one of those restaurants that welcomes out,

16:59but my community's going to have a white table

17:01called Fine Dining Restaurant.

17:02They're going to have chandeliers, have beautiful music,

17:06because I want my community to experience that.

17:09My mother, Leah Chase, was an extraordinary person.

17:13Hello, girl.

17:14Look at you looking glam.

17:16How are you?

17:17To many of the staple dishes,

17:19my mother said creolize it.

17:21And we still keep those dishes on our menu

17:24because that is part of our legacy that we passed down.

17:29The best gumbo, I don't say that.

17:32The best gumbo there is.

17:33Yeah, that's for sure.

17:34By many people's measure,

17:36it's some of the best gumbo you'll ever have.

17:38So, when you're talking about Ducky Chase,

17:41this is one dish that speaks who we are as a city,

17:45a community, and who we are as a nation,

17:47is gumbo.

17:48Because all of the history and the culture

17:50that's behind this dish.

17:51Everybody, when you say gumbo, you think okra.

17:56Well, that's because okra from the African people

18:00was gumbo, you know?

18:02But we use filet as a thickener,

18:05and that came by way of the American Indian.

18:07We use the ground sassafras leaf.

18:11And everybody has a different gumbo,

18:15but it's a generational,

18:17this is how my mama made it,

18:18this is how my grandmother made it.

18:19Best gumbo is your grandmother's gumbo.

18:22You know, gumbo is all about building flavor.

18:25It has the chili pepper flakes,

18:27it has thyme, it has the garlic.

18:29Louisiana blue crab, Louisiana gold shrimp.

18:33My grandmother would always joke

18:34she'll cook her root of her complexion.

18:36You gradually add velvety root of coke,

18:39all that beautiful protein.

18:41Oh, this is my grandmother's recipe.

18:43Some things you don't mess with.

18:45The recipe stays the same.

18:47As I'm the fourth generation chef,

18:49Zoe's the fifth generation chef.

18:51That makes us extremely proud and happy

18:53that we're continuing the legacy.

18:55I have our tasting food here.

19:01Oh, that's spot on.

19:03Delicious.

19:04There aren't that many restaurants

19:10in the United States

19:12that have that much history to them

19:14that do the work

19:16of correcting historical storytelling wrongs

19:20in quite the way that Dookie Chase does.

19:24Dookie Chase is more than a restaurant.

19:26And Miss Leah, brick by brick,

19:29built this community

19:31where members of the Civil Rights Movement

19:35could come in secret.

19:37In 1941, we were in the Green Book

19:41and a haven place for African Americans

19:43as they traveled.

19:44We are the only place here in New Orleans

19:46that was in the Green Book

19:48that is still open today for business.

19:51Our doors were open to the Freedom Bus Riders,

19:53to Martin Luther King,

19:55to Jesse Jackson,

19:57to Andrew Young,

19:58to Reverend Abernathy,

20:00to Thurgo Marshall.

20:01The whites that came here

20:03came for political reasons.

20:06You know, they would come to meet the blacks.

20:09Here at Dookie Chase,

20:10my grandmother would always say

20:11she helped change the course of America

20:13over Ebola gumbo.

20:16This neighborhood, the Sixth Ward Treme,

20:18is the oldest neighborhood

20:20of free people of color

20:21and was where they welcomed each other

20:23and, quite frankly,

20:24welcomed others

20:25who didn't welcome them.

20:26You know, that's the beautiful thing

20:27about Dookie Chase Restaurant.

20:29This place was a place

20:30that served everyone.

20:32All those people who come here today

20:34from all over the country,

20:35they come back and tell me,

20:37this is where I got engaged.

20:39This is where I celebrated our anniversary.

20:42This is where I celebrated your birthday.

20:45For those of you who don't know,

20:46I mean, my dad and mom

20:48dated at Dookie Chase.

20:50I dated at Dookie Chase,

20:53but I could save my money.

20:55That's why we're still here.

20:56That's why we're still here,

20:58because we have people like this

21:00who have supported our family

21:02for 84 years.

21:03Yeah.

21:04When I look at this restaurant,

21:05we celebrate back excellence,

21:07because it has to be about a place of joy.

21:10It has to be about a place of hope.

21:12It has to be a place about a community.

21:15It has to be an inspiration.

21:16When we look back at that time period

21:19and what she did,

21:20and then later to feed presidents

21:23from all over the world,

21:25and to be celebrated at Disney.

21:30My mother was the inspiration

21:32for Gianna and Princess and the Frog.

21:34And hanging from the ceiling,

21:36a big old crystal chandelier.

21:39She told her story.

21:40My mother was a great storyteller.

21:42And she has four generations of children,

21:46grandchildren, great-grandchildren,

21:48who are maintaining her legacy.

21:51And a city that will always,

21:53always say her name,

21:55always give her her flowers.

21:58It's profound.

21:59That's what they look for

22:00when they come to New Orleans.

22:01They look for good Creole,

22:03and we try to give it to them.

22:04Just hope all of us know,

22:13so Char-Day is now the new executive suit.

22:15So if I'm not here,

22:17if you have a question,

22:17anything about regarding the food-wise,

22:19just go straight to Char-Day.

22:21Anything else I'm missing?

22:22Anybody want to add something?

22:24Back home in Senegal,

22:25throughout lunch,

22:26you know, when you sit down,

22:27you probably have a big bowl

22:28that you'll share

22:29somewhere between 8 to 12 people.

22:32You learn to be respectful

22:35at the person sitting next to you.

22:38It taught me how important it is

22:41to share your food with others.

22:45All right, well,

22:46good service,

22:46and then get played.

22:48That's good.

22:57We have beautiful food.

22:58We have beautiful culture.

22:59So they are the row party of five

23:01at table 30.

23:03There was a time where

23:04people didn't know

23:05what West African food was.

23:07But two years into Dakar Nola,

23:10more people know

23:11what West African food is.

23:13So that has been

23:14an amazing thing to see.

23:17Welcome to Dakar Nola.

23:18Thank y'all so much

23:19for joining us this evening.

23:20I'm going to get you guys

23:21into my language,

23:22and I want y'all to get me back.

23:23So if I say,

23:24I want y'all to respond back

23:26saying,

23:27awesome, sounds good, sounds good, sounds good.

23:34I just knew that the folks

23:36of Senegal have something to say,

23:38and I'm telling that story through food.

23:40I'm just telling that one dish at a time.

23:43One dish at a time.

23:47Cheers!

23:47We have this dish in the menu

23:52called The Last Meal,

23:54and I call it The Last Meal for a reason.

23:57So one of my last trips to Dakar,

23:59I visit the island called Goree Island.

24:03Goree Island is off the coast of Senegal,

24:06and it was a major part of the slave trade.

24:10Chef was taking the tour at Goree Island,

24:13and the guide mentioned

24:15that they fed our enslaved ancestors

24:18black-eyed peas and palm oil

24:20because of the high fat content

24:22to be able to survive the Middle Passage.

24:26We have to remember that

24:28in order to put someone in bondage,

24:31in order to make sure

24:33that they make a very long trip,

24:36days, weeks, on a ship,

24:40you need to know

24:41how you can help them survive.

24:43Because you need to make money off of them.

24:46And when I heard that,

24:48I completely broke down

24:49because as a kid growing up in Senegal,

24:52I used to eat a dish

24:54that's very similar to that dish

24:56that he was describing.

24:58When I came back

25:00and started the process of opening Dakar,

25:02I was like, I need to share that story.

25:03Some people eat the dish and cry.

25:06Some people eat the dish

25:07and feel grateful.

25:10And that's the beauty of telling the story.

25:14I know, I know, I know.

25:16People tell us about how excited they are

25:19that Dakar exists.

25:21To hear a native New Orleanian say that

25:24really means the world.

25:25We are just part of this long continuum.

25:32And that's the beautiful part

25:33of Creole cuisine and culture

25:35is that it continues to evolve as well.

25:38In my little lifetime,

25:4070 years old,

25:41I've seen a lot of change,

25:43change in our demographics

25:44that have brought in more cultural influences

25:46and the world events

25:48that cause those changes.

26:01The restaurant landscape

26:02really changed after Katrina.

26:06Hurricane Katrina was devastating.

26:08It was devastating to this whole city.

26:10It was devastating to the community as a whole.

26:13It'll be 20 years

26:14and I still can see

26:16the impact of Katrina in our community.

26:20And it was rough on us.

26:29Post-Katrina, January,

26:32five months after the storm,

26:34we stopped at Dookie Chase.

26:36We knocked on Leah's door

26:37and she came out with her big smile.

26:39Hi, y'all.

26:40Come on in.

26:41I'll show you.

26:41And Dookie Chase had, you know,

26:44eight feet of water.

26:50And it's all gutted, you know,

26:53down to the studs and the walls.

26:55Smells bad.

26:57And she's got that smile going.

27:00I mean, you can see those little...

27:01Like a toothpaste commercial.

27:05And she's leading these people through

27:08and she starts telling them

27:10how she feels bad

27:12because she didn't do enough

27:15in the neighborhood.

27:18Oh.

27:19I had to walk out.

27:21I was in tears.

27:24Seeing all the destruction she was facing

27:26and she's telling these visitors

27:29that she didn't do enough

27:31for others.

27:34I went out and I stood in the middle of the street

27:36and just looked down the street,

27:38dead quiet,

27:39no traffic,

27:40no people,

27:40no nothing.

27:41And I was just weeping.

27:47That was our role.

27:49It was how can we help this community get back.

27:52And that was many restaurants

27:53and many businesses' role.

27:54We need you back.

27:55We need our people back.

27:56We need the love of this city back,

27:58the joy of this city back.

27:59This major event,

28:02this catastrophe,

28:04created an upheaval

28:06in our demographics.

28:08A couple hundred thousand people

28:09left and didn't come back.

28:11These vacuums get filled

28:12one way or the other.

28:15For us,

28:17me as a homeowner,

28:19as a restaurant owner,

28:21it was Latinos, Mexicans,

28:25that saved me

28:26and others.

28:28You had a lot more Spanish speakers

28:41and people whose

28:43own personal

28:44ethnic background

28:45and culinary background

28:46was different than it had been

28:48in previous generations

28:49in New Orleans.

28:50The parking lot taco stop

28:52is a popular place

28:53and not just for Latinos

28:54pulling sheetrock

28:55out of flooded houses.

28:57Montez says

28:58about a third

28:58of his business

28:59is local.

29:00The food followed

29:01the workers,

29:03tens of thousands

29:04of Latino laborers

29:05who came to do

29:06the dirty work

29:07of rebuilding

29:07flooded neighborhoods.

29:09It pointed

29:10to a real phenomenon

29:11and it did,

29:13I think,

29:14awaken people

29:15to this idea

29:16that this city's food

29:17was still open

29:18to being transformed

29:19by outside influences.

29:21You'd see that,

29:22I think,

29:22in small ways

29:23in restaurants,

29:23even long-standing restaurants

29:25that would start

29:25to put moles

29:27into sort of a duck dish.

29:30Especially in that first year

29:31as restaurants

29:32gradually started popping up,

29:35I said,

29:37it's easier to find a taco

29:38than a po'boy.

29:40And it was.

29:42And I didn't mean

29:42that disparagingly.

29:45And older New Orleanians

29:48like myself,

29:49we were worried

29:50about our culture,

29:52that it may change so much

29:54we don't recognize it anymore.

29:56And I think it's up to us,

29:59us old timers,

30:00to get excited about it.

30:03Don't be close-minded.

30:04I embrace

30:05the expanding textures

30:08and flavors

30:10of Creole cuisine

30:12and culture.

30:13After Katrina,

30:14we started to get

30:15an influx

30:17of many different cuisines

30:18being showcased

30:19here in New Orleans.

30:20Whether it was folks

30:21from outside coming in

30:23or it was really folks

30:24who were here now saying,

30:25I'm gonna tell my story.

30:27I'm gonna put my story

30:28on this plate

30:29and I hope you come

30:30and taste and support it.

30:34I think what makes

30:42New Orleans so special

30:43in regards to the food

30:45is because there's

30:46so many different influences.

30:48There's things that you

30:49don't see

30:50all over the country.

30:52Okay, I'm gonna show you guys

30:53how to cook a winter melon.

30:55And we're gonna saute it

30:56with just some shrimp.

30:57So I got some gulf shrimp here.

30:59We're just gonna season it

31:00with salt, pepper,

31:01and a little bit of sugar.

31:03So many people have

31:04come through New Orleans

31:05and I think Vietnamese people

31:07were one of the latest

31:09group of people

31:10to come and kind of

31:12put our imprints

31:13onto the city.

31:14It's like a mixture

31:15of like sweet and savory,

31:17like you said.

31:17When I decided

31:18I wanted to be a chef,

31:20I really wanted people

31:21to become more exposed

31:23to the dishes

31:24that I grew up eating.

31:27There's so many similarities

31:29from Vietnam to Louisiana.

31:31In New Orleans,

31:32we have our po' boy

31:33and in Vietnam

31:34we have our bánh mì

31:35and we share

31:36like the same style of bread.

31:39And we have our own version

31:40of beignets

31:41and coffee and beignets

31:42is something

31:43that we also enjoy

31:44in Vietnam.

31:46Everything's a little

31:46more relaxed.

31:48It is very much

31:49the way we are in Vietnam.

31:51And like the humidity's real.

31:52They're like,

31:53oh, this is like home.

31:54We're home.

31:55It's tropical.

31:56It's hot.

31:57Very hot.

31:58My family came here

32:02in 1975

32:03after the war,

32:06after the fall of Saigon.

32:07The end of the American presence

32:09in Vietnam.

32:11Refugees scramble

32:12to board the last plane out.

32:13The end of the American engagement

32:17in the war in Vietnam

32:19sets the stage

32:20for the arrival

32:21of Vietnamese

32:22at first refugees

32:23and later immigrants

32:25into New Orleans.

32:25The United States

32:26has been doing

32:27and will continue

32:29to do its utmost

32:30to assist these people.

32:32If you think about it,

32:33Louisiana and Vietnam

32:34have some interesting

32:35commonalities.

32:37Both are deltas.

32:38Both are subtropical,

32:39tropical environments.

32:40Both have fishing industries.

32:42And both were

32:43former French colonies.

32:44Most of them moved

32:45to New Orleans East,

32:46so they had to work

32:47and live alongside

32:49African Americans

32:50in that area.

32:51And then a lot of these kids

32:52end up going to school

32:54with native New Orleanians.

32:56Then there becomes,

32:57once again,

32:58a merging of cultures

32:59and traditions.

33:01Growing up,

33:02I was in a class

33:03with mostly black kids

33:04and Vietnamese kids.

33:05I never had that, like,

33:07ew, what's in your

33:07lunchbox moment?

33:09And everybody was

33:10eating shrimp chips.

33:11And we all went to this,

33:13like, same grocery store

33:14in our neighborhood.

33:15And so instead

33:16of feeling isolated,

33:18everybody is connected

33:19because of their interest

33:21in food.

33:22My grandmother used to say,

33:23if you can cook,

33:24come sit next to me.

33:26Vietnamese immigrants

33:27have had some of the

33:28most profound influence

33:29on New Orleans food culture.

33:31There's a type of

33:32oiled crawfish

33:33that's firmly now

33:34part of the sort of

33:35pantheon here

33:36that comes straight

33:37from the Vietnamese community.

33:40One of our most popular

33:41times in New Orleans

33:43is going to Vietnamese New Year

33:44and eating the cuisine

33:45that they offer.

33:46This is our Lunar New Year

33:56celebration.

33:57Is that right?

33:59This is the Vietnamese way.

34:02So, like, the crawfish,

34:04we have boiled it,

34:06the classic Louisiana way,

34:07for, like, decades.

34:09But now we're adding herbs

34:12and it's just something

34:13new and exciting.

34:14And it's fun to see

34:16how it's evolved.

34:18This is, like,

34:18the classic Louisiana

34:20style of a boil.

34:21So we put in some potatoes,

34:23garlic, and corn,

34:25and then we'll toss it

34:26in garlic butter,

34:27which is, like,

34:28the Vietnamese style.

34:30Vietnamese people

34:30have been really respectful

34:32of Louisiana cuisine

34:34because of the way

34:35we like to eat here.

34:37It took almost 50 years

34:38for us to finally, like,

34:40put our own twang on it.

34:41You're getting a crawfish facial.

34:46As much as my family,

34:48like, assimilated to America,

34:50we are very much

34:51still very Vietnamese.

34:53Yo!

34:55Happy New Year!

35:00All right, now,

35:01everybody, please eat.

35:02Don't be shy.

35:04I'm just gonna go

35:05straight for crawfish.

35:07It's been very interesting

35:08since being here now

35:10for 50 years,

35:11how the cultures

35:13melt together.

35:23Do you think

35:25that New Orleans is home?

35:27To me, it is.

35:28To me?

35:29Yeah.

35:29It's home.

35:30It's home.

35:30We still have

35:31the Vietnamese culture in us.

35:32Yeah.

35:33Until, you know,

35:34we get to know more

35:35about Louisiana

35:36and New Orleans,

35:37and then we grow from there

35:39and we begin

35:39to love Louisiana.

35:41I mean, that's all.

35:42We don't even

35:42want to move anywhere.

35:44You know,

35:44it's the climate,

35:45it's the weather,

35:46it's the people.

35:48And the culture.

35:49Do you ever, like,

35:51think that you would

35:52ever move back home?

35:53Like, to Vietnam?

35:55No.

35:56No?

35:58Why?

35:58I get used to, yeah.

36:01I get not too hot for me.

36:04How about you?

36:08Creole cuisine

36:09is the food

36:10of New Orleans.

36:12It is based

36:14on the food

36:15that people eat

36:16at home.

36:18And as what we eat

36:19changes

36:19because of different

36:20influences,

36:21different times,

36:23then the food

36:24that is Creole cuisine

36:25changes with it.

36:26We don't throw away

36:27the old way,

36:28but we say,

36:29this is a great addition.

36:30Let's have this too.

36:32Now,

36:32as, like,

36:33a first-generation

36:34Vietnamese-American,

36:36it's important

36:36for me

36:37to preserve

36:38what my family

36:40came with.

36:41Happy New Year!

36:43They came

36:43with the clothes

36:44off their backs.

36:45They came

36:45with their culture.

36:46No, she's

36:47all that stuff.

36:48Yeah.

36:48This is my

36:56special gumbo spoon

36:57here,

36:58and this is

36:59about the time

37:00when your neighbor

37:00knocks on the door

37:01and says,

37:02you making gumbo?

37:03We opened

37:04in 1986.

37:06We had this

37:06glowing review

37:07saying something like,

37:11Chef Frank

37:11is reinventing

37:12Creole cuisine.

37:13and I'm like,

37:15whoa,

37:16that's a big mantle

37:18to wear.

37:2539 years later,

37:27now I'm considered

37:28the traditionalist,

37:30maintaining tradition.

37:33Guess what?

37:33I'm still doing

37:34the same thing

37:35I was 39 years ago.

37:36I keep one foot

37:46in tradition

37:47and one foot

37:48in the future,

37:49keeping it fresh,

37:50keeping it fun,

37:51and who knows

37:53what the future holds.

37:54I don't.

37:56But while I'm here,

37:58I will maintain

37:59this flame right here

38:00on Dante Street.

38:04Tradition is key

38:05in our food culture

38:06here in this

38:06city.

38:07There's reasons

38:07why we need

38:08to pass that

38:09information down

38:10to each generation

38:11because that tells

38:12us who we are.

38:13That tells us

38:14why we do

38:15what we do.

38:17Coming in

38:18as the newest

38:18chef of the family,

38:20sometimes it is

38:21pressure because

38:22I want to make

38:23sure I'm doing

38:24it right and

38:25I am keeping

38:27the traditions alive

38:28and making

38:29my great-grandmother

38:29proud.

38:31I'm excited

38:31to create

38:32new dishes,

38:33come up

38:34with new things.

38:35I want to start

38:35making,

38:36vegan options.

38:37I definitely

38:38want to try

38:39maybe a vegan

38:40gemeliah,

38:41maybe vegan

38:42collard greens,

38:43but I also love

38:45to keep it the same,

38:46you know,

38:47keep the gumbo

38:47the same.

38:48And I'm cooking

38:49the same recipes

38:50that my grandmother

38:51was in this same

38:52kitchen in the same

38:53kettle cooking.

38:54my mother.

38:55My mother was 96

38:56and she was claiming

38:57to live 100

38:58and didn't make it

39:00but almost made it.

39:01But she felt like

39:02she had to live

39:03that loan,

39:04not for her,

39:05but because she had

39:06to give back

39:06to her community.

39:07It's very special

39:10for me to be

39:11in the kitchen

39:12and knowing

39:13that my grandmother

39:14was in this kitchen

39:15doing the same thing.

39:18And you just feel

39:19so close,

39:20especially in the kitchen

39:21that, you know,

39:22they are watching

39:23over us

39:23and even that

39:25they aren't here,

39:27they taught us

39:28so much.

39:28People come to New Orleans

39:36to a large extent

39:38to commune with history.

39:39You can time travel here.

39:41You can see

39:42that the United States

39:43is not as new

39:44as it seems.

39:46But the fact is

39:47that as much

39:48as New Orleans

39:49promises to deliver

39:50an opportunity

39:52to commune

39:52with the past

39:53by visiting

39:54its restaurants,

39:56there's also been

39:57sort of a paradox

39:58that underlies

40:00that promise

40:00because the very thing

40:02that has made

40:04New Orleans food

40:05exciting to people

40:07has always been

40:09change.

40:11People are getting

40:12really creative,

40:13especially the younger

40:14generations,

40:16and it's just

40:16really exciting to see.

40:18But I hope that

40:19as far as we go

40:21with, like,

40:21being creative,

40:23that there will be

40:24moments where,

40:25especially these, like,

40:26younger Vietnamese chefs

40:27will want to bring

40:28it back to home.

40:29Ready, everybody?

40:31From the top.

40:32Everybody.

40:32The essence of the food

40:47that the city

40:47is known for

40:48is Kriyo

40:48that will never

40:50really leave

40:50because it's what

40:52tells the story

40:52of this beautiful city.

40:54And that's the beauty

40:55in it.

40:56We all are telling

40:57the same story,

40:58whether we choose

41:00to listen to it

41:00or not.

41:00My greatest hope

41:02for New Orleans

41:03is always to remember

41:04who we are,

41:05always to stay true

41:07to what started us,

41:08always stay true

41:09to our people,

41:10our culture.

41:12Always celebrate that.

41:13Always know that

41:14tradition matters.

41:16Always know that

41:17the story you're putting

41:18on a plate

41:19better be your story.

41:23And when we do that,

41:25New Orleans will

41:26always outlive us.

41:27Thanks.

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