ROUSES_Summer2023_Magazine Pages-Web

authentic Cuban flan recipe, porchetta (which almost none of us could pronounce), and the Chinese Zodiac for the Lunar New Year. We also baked so many pans of schnecken, to perfect a recipe that was sticky and gooey enough for Christmas morning, that schnecken became a curse word in our office. LOCAL CULTURE When our first issue hit stores, we were already a few years into our “Where the Chefs Shop” campaign (later renamed “Best Chefs and Cooks Shop at Rouses”), a marketing effort I came up with that included chefs like world-renowned Paul Prudhomme, Cajun cooking authority John Folse and many more. It celebrates our region’s chefs, cooks and food makers. We’re about to relaunch it with some great new faces. I’m super-excited! Thanks in part to that campaign, we’ve been able to run exclusive interviews with chefs and cooks from all over. I feel like they all talked about learning to cook at their mother or father or grandparent’s side. Like you, roots mean everything to them. To me, too. For those among us who are cookbook enthusiasts, we’ve covered a range, from chef-driven to community-based, including cherished regional cookbooks that are passed down between generations. Even if you’re not a cook, they make for great reads. I have my own tattered copies of Talk About Good!, River Road Recipes, Pirate’s Pantry and Recipe Jubilee! We’ve run endless lists, often with contri butions from our customers: Best Dressed (po-boys), Pit Stops (barbecue), Pearls

(oysters bars), iconic dishes of the Gulf Coast, essential ingredients of the Gulf Coast, our favorite Asian restaurants for our fabulous Asian Food issue…. Right now, we’re working on the Best Saints Bars for our upcoming Saints issue. We’ve covered festivals that celebrate food, wine, music, boudin and beer, and anything else recognized with a celebration. Let’s be honest: Down here, we will throw a party for just about anything. Music journal ists have delved into the unique soundtracks of New Orleans, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, Festival International, and other events from around the region. Folklorists have provided insights into local traditions, including Cajun humor. We even drew our own comic strip with the Cajun duo Boudreaux and Thibodeaux. We’ve shared local traditions of every hometown we serve. In 2017, we recorded the definitive interview with the Cajun Cannon, Bobby Hebert himself, and then-LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron, for our Tailgating issue. It took

me four hours to transcribe it, and I’m still not sure I got it completely right because of the accents. Together, the pair brought home the state title for the South Lafourche High School Tarpons in 1977. OUR WRITERS Storytelling is so important to a magazine, especially this one, and I’ve heard every excuse for writers missing deadlines.

5

WWW.ROUSES.COM