Interview with Chef John Besh at Restaurant August in New Orleans

Besh believes that food is “the common thread that brings the most unlikely people together.  We all want the same thing, to bring great food to the marketplace.  Television and the internet has allowed this to happen, raising awareness.  Look at all the towns that have Farmers’ Markets now.  Twenty years ago it was a struggle.  However, we are still losing traction with two thirds of the population (in getting healthier foods to them).”

We met Chef Jackie from August when we were there in February. She is incredibly talented.

The philanthropic work that John Besh is involved in is incredibly important to him and should be important to all of us that appreciate the role of food in community.  A portion of the proceeds from his first book, My New Orleans, go to Café Reconcile, a program that helps provide at-risk youth an opportunity to learn the necessary skills to enter the restaurant and hospitality industry.  He describes this book: “It’s not about my city.  It’s all about my story of my town through starry eyes when I grew up and would dress up to come to the city.”

His latest book, My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking, (which will be released November 1st), will also help to support another program Besh believes in, Café Hope.  Café Hope is a restaurant that works with at-risk youth to create a a way to become self-sufficient through job training.  My Family Table “is about the communal aspects of cooking and dining.  The further we get away from the table, the more we lose the recipes and the traditions.  Families used to pass down recipes, not chefs trained in culinary school.”

“Families passing down recipes creates the culture and cuisine through the years.  Now, families are stocking their pantries with processed foods.  We need to pay homage to lessons learned around the table; not just cooking together, but the act of breaking bread.”

Besh not only invests in the future of those he does not know through his philanthropy, he is also a firm believer in investing in the extremely talented people he has working for him, some of them for as long as fifteen years. “It is important to invest in people and learn to give to them and help support their dreams.  It brings me satisfaction.  The restaurant is a team.”  You will notice that Besh’s restaurants do not brandish his name but rather reflect the people and places important to him and his past.

Chef Besh took over La Provence in 2006, following the death of his mentor, Chris Kerageorgiou

One word that came up quite a bit in our conversation was integrity.  While the new media attention on food has been positive, there are also some negatives.  “While the Food Network raises awareness, it can be dangerous.  Iron Chef is a spectacle and I added to the problem making cooking a spectator sport.  People need to get back in the kitchen and roll up their sleeves and cook.  We need to cook with integrity.”

Besh believes that while integrity in reporting and reviews wasn’t guaranteed years ago, it was more commonplace because you had an institution you were speaking on behalf of.  “We now have this tool (the internet and social media).  How do we use it?  We are in this 140 character or less place that says we have to label everything.  There is sometimes a crassness in the way we write and things are not eloquently written.  People sometimes come at it with a predetermined intent to bring someone down.  We need to write with integrity.”

Fountain in the courtyard at La Provence

If you have been to New Orleans, you know that the food there is special.  Comparable dishes never taste the same anywhere else in the country.  “Our food here is what it is because it’s here.  It’s not only the ambiance of being in these old buildings and preserved atmosphere.”  He compares it to drinking wine on vacation.  “It’s like drinking a bottle of Village Côtes du Rhône in this itty bitty village in France (and you thought you found something really wonderful) and then you bring it back (home) and it’s just not the same.”

“Cooking outside of New Orleans does not exist out of eyesight of the city.  If you go too far one way, you are in the marshes, if you go too far another way, you are in Mississippi or Creole Country.  What we have is best to consume here.  Some things don’t travel.  Culture should not travel very far.”

Mangalista Pigs at La Provence

These pigs are also known as Wooly Pigs

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