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Photo: Chris Granger<\/p>
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New Orleans has been good to chef John Besh, whose flourishing restaurant group doubled in size despite Hurricane Katrina\u2019s aftermath. And Besh, who grew up in Louisiana, has always returned the favor.<\/p>\n
Following Katrina, when frying pans were as integral as hammers in getting the city running, Besh mobilized his employees\u2014after rowing through the flooded streets to track down many of them\u2014and fed thousands of workers in the decimated St. Bernard Parish. After Hurricane Gustav, the chef\u2014assisted by only nine others from his workforce\u2014made lunch for twenty thousand people a day stranded without food. \u201cNew Orleans has always been and will always be an incredible place to cook,\u201d Besh says. \u201cFood has more substance in New Orleans, more cultural significance because we have the only indigenous urban cuisine in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busy as Besh is with four restaurants under his command (Restaurant August, Besh Steak, L\u00fcke, and La Provence), when duck season rolls around, the avid hunter has one thing on his mind: gumbo. In the rich mythology of American regional food, gumbo resides in the domain of New Orleans, and the roots run deep. The cultures that settled the New Orleans area were dramatically different than in other American port cities, with little Anglican influence. \u201cNo matter where in the world our early settlers came from\u2014France, Spain, Senegal, Haiti\u2014and whether free or enslaved, they assimilated into the Creole culture, embracing everything from language to cooking,\u201d Besh says. \u201cThat\u2019s why our famous simple dishes like gumbo\u2014the West African word for okra\u2014have so many ingredients. Every culture stirred the Creole pot, adding a bit of its own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photo: Chris Granger<\/p>
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