Keep Cookin': Friends of Louisiana Cookin' Magazine

Still Cookin'

From Country Roads Magazine: Still Cookin’: From makeshift quarters, Louisiana Cookin’ carries on

Keep Cookin' With Louisiana Cookin' Recipe CD

New subscribers to Louisiana Cookin' can look forward to a bonus with their upcoming issue: A CD of all the magazine's 2005 mouth-watering recipes. From cajun crawfish rolls to zydeco grit cakes, the flavor of Louisiana is just a click away.

That's not all. When you order a Louisiana Cookin' subscription this holiday season, Louisiana Cookin' will also donate $5 to the American Culinary Federation, New Orleans Chapter.

What a wonderful way to say Happy Holidays!

To subscribe, go to the magazine's secure subscription page:

https://www.louisianacookin.com/subscribe/index.html

Food, music and culture in Big Easy are priceless

Eric Cormier is a freelance writer for Louisiana Cookin' and sent us this article he wrote for American Press:  Food, music and culture in Big Easy are priceless

For all the talk about what it will take to rebuild southeast Louisiana, the folks in charge need to remember what put our state on the map: music, culture and food.

Something tells me that when all the water is pumped out of the Big Easy, and homes and businesses are rebuilt there and in neighboring towns, the smell of beans and rice, chicken bonne femme, and Creole gumbo will have more to do with our state’s rebirth than anything else politicians can try to take credit for.

Remember, if we cook it, they will come. Bank on it!

Our homegrown cooks are the fabric that holds this deeply mixed and eclectic tapestry of Louisiana life together. They hold the keys to Italian, African, Indian, German, Creole, French and Spanish
influences.

Hurricane Katrina may have destroyed buildings, put people out of work and spread residents all over the country, but it didn't destroy the spirit of our cooks.

Think about it — this great migration of residents out of the state that we've witnessed only means that for the time being, Grandma's cornbread is being cooked in California now. Somebody's aunt’s Creole gumbo is brewing in Ohio, while Grandpa’s pork and sausage jambalaya is being stirred in Arkansas.

A few days ago, Marcy McCall, editor of Louisiana Cookin' magazine, sent a mass e-mail out to staffers and freelance writers. She wanted everybody to check in.

McCall, who lives in New Orleans, is one of the thousands who fled the city. She’s in Missouri now, safe and sound, but feeling the need for some Louisiana cooking.

Our food is her passion, and she’s counting the days when the pots of great Louisiana cooks will start heating up again in the Crescent City. "I can tell you one thing, there is no better food anywhere! And
after one and a half weeks of eating out and having terrible food, I am dreaming about my favorite Louisiana restaurants," she wrote.

The day will come when the powers that be have to decide the future of the ravaged areas of Louisiana. Who knows what the final results will be? All we can hope for is that what makes New Orleans and Louisiana special remains the same.

Insurance adjustors and bankers can figure out the material loss that our state has suffered, but they can't put a price on what makes us who we are. Our food, music and culture are priceless.

Eric Cormier
Spice of Life

Slowly, but surely

Ken Wells of the Wall Street Journal finds some good news (free feature): "The cooks are coming back to New Orleans."

Quote:

Ellen Harris, a freelance writer, photographer and producer, is one of the waitees (at Bacco on Chartres Street) and she's deliriously happy. "We needed good news in this town and word of Bacco's opening spread fast," she says. "It's not just the food, though. It's the ritual gathering with friends to laugh, to lament, to linger, to savor. This is the ritual of New Orleans -- we grew up doing this."

Advertising Opportunities

Advertising Close is approaching. Opportunities to reach 150,000 readers nationwide who are passionate about Louisiana cooking and culture are red hot.

Louisiana Cookin’ Advertising Sales Manager Liz Ferguson has had a heck of a time since Katrina hit. She evacuated to Houston with her boyfriend and his two cats. Shortly, thereafter, of course, she had to evacuate Houston due to Rita. Like all great sales people, she kept an incredibly positive attitude and has been focusing on solutions, and not the challenges she’s encountered. Liz also knows that for some of her advertisers, being in the next issue isn’t top on their list of priorities.

At Hammock, we’ve offered to help her get the advertising message out, as it is evolving, in hopes that we can help her generate a couple of extra pages in the last week leading up to the close of the November/December issue. In this case, we are seeking marketers or agencies out there who control dollars for accounts and who see the opportunity to reach a wonderful audience of readers who are passionate about Louisiana cooking.

Now, more than ever, the audience will be engaged in this magazine. When this issue shows up in their mailbox, I’d stake a lunch at a reopened Lousiana restaurant of your choice that it will be devoured. We are working to help this business Keep Cookin’ and are seeing an uptick in subscriptions thanks to this blog.

Here’s the link to pdfs of the media kits, and promotions customized for Cajun & Creole restaurants, marketers of grilling and cooking products, and anyone who wants to be in front of people who are passionate about cooking and Louisiana. 

Camellia beans in demand

(From the Baton Rouge Advocate) "In Louisiana, Camellia Brand is synonymous with dried beans, in particular, red kidney beans. This explains, in part, why in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, grocery store shelves were stripped of Camellia Brand beans. It seemed everyone wanted the comfort of the classic south Louisiana red beans and rice dish."

(Full story)

Dine for America - Oct. 5th

On October 5, 2005, restaurants across the country will band together in a "Dine for America" day, a national fundraising effort to support the American Red Cross and help those affected by Gulf Coast hurricanes.

Sponsored by the National Restaurant Association, the idea for Dine For America began in the wake of September 11, 2001. A group of restaurant employees in Seattle, Washington was looking for a way for their company and co-workers to help in the relief effort. When they approached their CEO with their idea for a national "dine out" day and asked for his support, he not only encouraged them, he asked the employees to share their ideas with others in the industry. This year, over 15,000 have already sign-on to participate with 100% of the funds raised through going to the American Red Cross Gulf Coast hurricane relief efforts.

To find a restaurant near you that is participating, or if you own a restaurant and would like to participate, visit DineForAmerica.org.

Grounds for Hope in New Orleans

BusinessWeek Online reporter Stacy Perman recently interviewed Chris Morocco, president of PJs Coffee, in Atlanta, and Randy Hollingsworth, PJ's vice-president of operations, in Jefferson Parish, La., about their efforts to help rebuild both the community devastated by Katrina and the coffee company so closely associated with New Orleans.

Quote:

"I'm standing in Jefferson Parish, 15 minutes from downtown New Orleans, and it looks like a regular city. There is power and water. In New Orleans, there is water and electricity in parts of the central business district, the French Quarter, and Uptown. Our stores that are open are busy -- one [owner] is trying to...open a second store."

Full story here

Viking Cooking School classes to benefit hurricane relief

CAJUN COOKING FOR A CAUSE

Viking Cooking Schools across the country will donate proceeds from their New Orleans-themed cooking classes, "Big Easy Hors d'oeuvres" and "Cajun Christmas" to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

For more information, e-mail: [email protected]

In New Orleans, Cooks are Stirring

From the New York Times, "In New Orleans, Cooks are Stirring"

Quote:

"PEOPLE here just have to cook. They can't help themselves. That's why on Monday Kathleen Horn - Kappa to most people - laid a few pounds of bacon on the grill of her diner, Slim Goody's, and set about making chicken salad po' boys."

The reporter suggests it will be a long-road back for many of the restaurants she surveyed.

Our prediction: Like Louisiana Cookin Magazine, most of your favorite New Orleans restaurants will keep cookin.

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