Meet the chef behind NOLAs’ African American-owned cooking school
Chef Dee Lavigne learned to cook at the age of seven. After a brief career in accountancy, she decided to ditch the world of spreadsheets and focus on her true passion: food. Now she runs the first African American-owned cooking school New Orleans has seen in over 80 years, whipping up Cajun and Creole classics for hungry travellers.
If you step inside New Orleans’ Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) in the historic Central City, you might catch a whiff of something spicy and delicious coming from the kitchens. This building, once the home of the old Dryades Market, is also the headquarters of Deelightful Roux – New Orleans’ first African American-owned cooking school in over 80 years. The head chef is a lady known simply as ‘Chef Dee’. Full name: Dwynesha Lavigne. “I originally got a job at the museum during COVID,” Dwynesha says. “I enlisted other chefs to come give live demos and introduce their products to help grow their customer base. I started teaching cooking classes – but I was following the museum’s rules, and I found myself thinking, ‘I could change this. I could do it better.’ So one day I asked them if they’d like to make history with me.”
Other News
News
The Black Creole Chef Who Paved the Way for Food TV
February 10, 2023
A belated celebration of Lena Richard. In 1949 — more than a decade before Julia Child’s television debut — a boisterous Creole chef put on a cook’s uniform and made history.
News
A new cooking school opens at SOFAB
February 10, 2023
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)— Deelightful Roux, a new cooking school at Southern Food & Beverage Museum (SOFAB) is celebrating its grand opening on February 1st.
News
Chef Dee Lavigne Expands The Only Black-Owned Cooking School In New Orleans
February 10, 2023
Deelightful Roux School of Cooking is the only African American-owned cooking school taught by a New Orleans native, and her class is a guide to New Orleans’ food culture.
News
The Life of Chef Lena Richard, a culinary giant who broke barriers
February 10, 2023
NEW ORLEANS —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.
