Oct 25, 2024 - Food and Drink
Marcelle Bienvenu is still asking "Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux?"
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Marcelle Bienvenu has been cooking Cajun and Creole cuisine since the 1960s. Photo: Chelsea Brasted/Axios
It's been more than 30 years since Marcelle Bienvenu had us all wondering, "Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux?"
Why it matters: She's still asking.
Zoom in: That question sits atop Bienvenu's classic cookbook of Cajun and Creole recipes, and she recently refreshed the book for a new edition.
- The updated classic from the longtime food writer and historian is out Tuesday.
There are few people as accomplished in south Louisiana cooking as Bienvenu, and it's obvious if you can spare a few minutes to sit and listen to her stories.
- She'll tell you about having drinks at Commander's Palace so late that Ella Brennan wouldn't let her take the streetcar home. Or how one day she wasn't so sure about that Emeril Lagasse guy, and the next, she's helping him cowrite his own cookbooks.
- She'll also tell you how she believes the term "foodie" was coined over meals at Commander's, and how, growing up, she didn't realize she was eating "Cajun food" until hearing the label years later.
Yes, but: That's all kind of the point.
- Food in New Orleans has changed a lot since Bienvenu first entered the scene, and it's still changing.
- "There's something Ella always said: Food should always be evolving," she tells Axios New Orleans. "There are still flavors that developed in Cajun and Creole cuisine, and that's maybe expanded or changed a little. But the heart is there."