Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

Black activist Bill Rouselle said about her life “she was the flame that never stopped burning.”
In 1989, the city of New Orleans honored her memory and work in the Louisiana Civil Rights
movement by renaming Dryades Street, the site of many a civil rights demonstration, Oretha Castle
Haley Boulevard. In 2017 the National Main Street Center named it a Great American Main Street.
1 Letter from Michael Haley, Castle’s eldest son, to William Reeves, July 1, 2017.
2 The Times-Picayune, September 21, 1960.
P AUL
P RUDHOMME
(1940 TO 2015)
Paul Prudhomme‘s great culinary imagination and talent for seasoning drove him to prominence
as Louisiana’s first international “celebrity” chef. With the encouragement of Commander’s Palace
proprietor Ella Brennan, Paul reinvented several traditional Creole dishes and conceived of “blackened
redfish,” the dish that would later make him nationally famous. As Ella Brennan has noted,
the dish “became so popular nationwide that fishing restrictions were implemented to preserve the
species.” 1 After making his name at Commanders, Prudhomme left the restaurant to lead a wave
of New Orleans cooking across the country and the world. He built on the work of earlier families
such as the Brennans (q.v.) and the Alciatores
(q.v.), who had created a consensus in New
Orleans that its food was different and delicious.
Born in 1940 in Opelousas, Louisiana,
Prudhomme grew up in an Acadian family, the
youngest of thirteen. He learned Cajun cooking from
his family, but he and his wife Kay quickly acquired
and popularized the taste for Creole as well as
Acadian cooking. In 1979, Paul and his wife opened
their restaurant on Chartres Street that became K-
Paul’s. The following year Prudhomme became a
Chevalier of the Ordre National du Mérite Agricole in
honor of his work with Cajun and Creole cuisines. He
eventually published eleven cookbooks and cheerfully
accepted media appearances around the world. His
most famous book, Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana
Kitchen came out in 1984 and is still in print. The
result was that Louisiana-themed restaurants sprang
up around the world, from Tokyo, to London, Cape
Cod, and elsewhere. In 1983, Prudhomme increased
his impact on New Orleans by opening a seasoning
business, “Magic Seasoning Blends,” now found in supermarkets nationwide. Cajun Magic Seasonings
may be its core, but Prudhomme’s company makes seasonings for many other companies. 2
In Prudhomme’s obituary The New York Times observed that the new popularity of New Orleans
cooking was part of a new nationwide emphasis on regional cooking across the country. As the
ambassador of Louisiana cooking, Prudhomme “rode the wave to become one of the first American
superstar chefs.”
Paul Prudhome.
COURTESY OF CHEF PAUL PRUDHOMME'S MAGIC
SEASONING BLENDS.
1 Ella Brennan and T. Adelaide Martin, Miss Ella of Commanders Palance (New Orleans, 2016), p. 127.
2 Elizabeth M. Williams, New Orleans: A Food Biography (Altamira, New York, 2013), 118-119.
BIOGRAPHIES
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