Holy Smoke

As a youngster growing up in Houston, Religious of the Sacred Heart Sister Jan Dunn was always welcomed into the kitchen to watch her grandmother’s housekeeper prepare meals.

A room packed with mostly out-of-towners interested in Creole Italian cuisine listened to native New Orleanian Jyl Benson regale them with the colorful history of New Orleans cooking as they sampled olive salad and Creole red gravy at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB).

As a youngster growing up in Lafayette, Father Samuel Fontana thought nothing of taking a pair scissors to his backyard to snip fresh herbs to throw into a simmering pot, or of breaking down rabbits, doves and ducks for stewing after a hunting expedition.

Deacon Carlo Maniglia’s love for food and faith came from his upbringing in an Italian family. His recalls his grandparents’ home burning down on North Roman and Gov. Nicholls streets, and soon after, they erected a St. Joseph altar.

Miracles – some pretty hefty ones – have rocked Karen Hubert Ursin’s life from Day One. As a newborn, Ursin was baptized in the hospital because her doctors were concerned her O-negative blood type – seen as a potential death sentence in 1955 – was working against her little body.