How Katrina led Canoe chef Matthew Basford from New Orleans to Atlanta
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Canoe executive chef Matthew Basford. Photo: Courtesy of Canoe
For chef Matthew Basford, New Orleans marked a powerful chapter in his life where he found love and learned from diverse kitchens. But after Hurricane Katrina, Atlanta became home.
Why it matters: Thousands of New Orleanians evacuated to Atlanta after Hurricane Katrina.
- Some returned. Others, like Basford, built new lives here.
Catch up quick: In 2005, Basford was a 22-year-old line cook at Dominique's in the French Quarter's Maison DuPuy Hotel.
- He'd moved to New Orleans four years earlier from his native Australia to build a culinary career in a city rich with history.
Zoom in: Early on, Basford told Axios, he didn't pay much attention to forecasts about the storm. It wasn't until his future brother-in-law, a boat captain on the Mississippi River, called on Friday and said he doubted the levees could hold that Basford decided to evacuate.
- By midnight the following day, Basford, his wife, a 45-pound dog, and a cat — plus his parents, who were in town visiting from Australia — were on an eight-hour drive to Atlanta.
- Finding an international flight home for his mom and dad would be easier from the world's busiest airport, he thought.
Zoom out: The Basfords were fortunate; their house on Magazine Street was spared from major damage. But by late September, they calculated that rebuilding their lives while New Orleans rebuilt itself could take years.
- Atlanta offered stability, professional growth for him and his wife, who's an MRI technician, along with easy access to her family in Mississippi.
- "There's more options here for us, and there's more certainty," said Basford, who landed a job at Canoe the following month. He's been there ever since, and in 2013 was named executive chef.
The big picture: Basford has visited the greater New Orleans area but hasn't returned to the city since Katrina. He considers his time there, and the relationships he built working in kitchens with people from around the world, pivotal.
- "[It's] part of my story," he said. "I think Australia is the opening and New Orleans is a chapter in there… that had a lot more influence on me."