Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and to celebrate we are dedicating today’s entire episode to stories about food. Here in Louisiana, we know that food fosters culture and community, and has also been a way in which many chefs of color – and particularly women– were able to find economic success. 

Lena Richard was the first Black woman to host her own cooking TV cooking show, which aired on WDSU-TV in New Orleans from 1949 until 1950. And Leah Chase broke so much ground at the helm of the Dooky Chase restaurant, that she was the inspiration for Disney’s first Black princess.

Back in 2021, we spoke with Zella Palmer, endowed chair and director of the Ray Charles Program in African American Material Culture at Dillard University. She also made the 2016 documentary, “The Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot,” and wrote the 2019 cookbook, “Recipes and Remembrances of Fair Dillard.” Today, we revisit our conversation on the history of Louisiana’s pioneering Black female chefs.

We also can’t talk about food without talking about food insecurity. While New Orleans is famous for its delicacies, food is not readily available to everyone, especially those living in parts of the city known as food deserts.

But there are some organizations looking to change that, such as I Am New Orleans,

which focuses on community-led efforts to improve racial equality in the city – including an urban farm geared towards youth development.

Last year, we spoke with Pamela Broom, 7th Ward Revitalization Project Manager with NewCorp, Inc, to learn more about how the organization is targeting food insecurity throughout the city. Today, we air an encore of that conversation. 

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our assistant producer is Aubry Procell. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

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