Celebrating Black History Month: The Life of Chef Lena Richard

Celebrating Black History Month: The Life of Chef Lena Richard

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Celebrating Black History Month: The Life of Chef Lena Richard

New Orleans is known for its delicious food, but do you know the chefs behind those delicious recipes?

One culinary giant who paved the way, but is often left in the shadows, is Lena Richard. The first, known African-American to host a culinary cooking TV show in the U.S. and it aired on WDSU.

Richard was born in 1892 in New Roads, Louisiana. She moved to New Orleans at an early age and grew up in a home on N. Derbigny Street. Richard started her culinary career when she was 14. She helped her mom and aunt as a domestic worker for a prominent New Orleans family.

"She was born only 30 years after slavery ended. So, she was born in the 1890s. She was part of this dominant workforce that were domestic servants. Those were the only jobs many African American women could get after the Civil War ended and Slavery ended," said Zella Palmer a food historian and Chair of Dillard University's Ray Charles Program in African-American Material Culture.

Richard quickly learned the ins and outs of cooking and grew into a culinary giant. In 1937, she opened a cooking school to teach Black people the necessary skills to get a better-paying job in the Jim Crow South.

"If you look at her catering school, she not only trained Black women in catering, but she also trained brides and bridesmaids to learn how to cook, how to be successful in the home with home economics," Palmer said.

In 1938, she opened a frozen food company and shipped meals to people's homes all over the world. In 1939, Richard published her own cookbook, with more than 300 recipes inside, titled 'Lena Richard's Cookbook.' That was the first Creole cookbook written by an African-American.

"When she published her first cookbook in 1939, you think of the time frame that was happening, of course, the Jim Crow South. We were still in segregation. African-Americans barely had rights at that point. Her doing that [publishing cook book], and the fact that she was a phenomenal chef, was a big deal. So, not only did you get to kind of impress your family and friends, or whomever you were cooking for, but you got to do it on a grand scale," said Chef Dee Lavigne, owner of Deelightful Roux School of Cooking.

The cookbook is still available online for purchase.

In 1941, Richard opened her first restaurant on La Salle Street in New Orleans called 'Lena's Eatery.' Eight years later in 1949, she opened her second restaurant called 'Lena Richard's Gumbo House.' That same year, Richard made history again. She was the first Black woman to host a cooking show in the U.S. It aired on WDSU twice a week from October 1949 until her untimely passing in November 1950.

"No one, today, that is African-American, has reached her prominent status as far as owning two restaurants, owning a culinary school, cookbooks, being on television. Also, food and retail," Palmer said.

"You know, when I think about Chef Lena Richard, the fact she was the first African American on live TV, twice a week! Not just, you know, some little 10-minute segment. She had an audience! I often wonder how it was forgotten and obviously, so quickly," Lavigne said.

While Richard's story is often untold, many are working to change that. Lavigne is following Richard's footsteps and is the first Black woman to own a cooking school, in New Orleans, since Richard owned hers, which was more than 80 years ago.

Deelightful Roux School of Cooking held its grand opening Tuesday. It's located inside the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.

"I am beyond impressed with what she's done in her career and the fact she laid the path for me, over 80 years ago, to be standing right here in my own cooking school, it's all thanks to her," Lavigne said.

Lavigne says Richard wants to make sure other girls and women know what Richard did and she plans to educate people through her cooking school.

"I can only imagine her struggle, the slammed doors she got in her life and her career. It was a time women, first of all, were on the back burner. They were not important in any landscape of work outside of housework," Lavigne said.

She hopes people remember Richard for her resilience and the many ways she paved the way for people all over the world.

To learn more about Richard, click here.

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