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Emeril chosen for Chefs Make Change
| Posted on January 10, 2012 |
His cause Through the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, Lagasse has created an extraordinary number of ways to help at-risk children in the areas where his restaurants operate: educational programs, life-skills development, culinary training and cultural enrichment. Recent success: the culinary arts program for high school kids at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA).
His philosophy “If you think big, then it’s going to be big.”
On launching his foundation “I was on the board of Andre Agassi’s education foundation, and seeing how it operates blew my mind. In 2002 I told my wife, I want to start a foundation to give back, I want it to be for kids in hard circumstances, and I want it to be culinary-driven because that’s who and what I am.”
Inspiring story “Twenty-eight years ago, a boy came to see me when I was chef at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. He had dropped out of school and was probably an eighth of an inch from going over the cliff because of all the drugs and crime in his neighborhood. I made a deal with him: I said, if you get your high school diploma, I’ll teach you how to cook. Today he’s one of my culinary directors. ”
The NOCCA recipe contest “This is for kids in the NOCCA program. We tested all the recipes, then brought in a panel to judge the final three. They were all so good we had three winners, and all three went on restaurant menus throughout New Orleans. For every order, a dollar went to the foundation. We raised $60,000 for the school’s kitchen and culinary arts studio.”
What’s next “More than 20-acres in New Orleans to set up an urban farm for kids. We want to make this a world-class educational center for the community that is open to the public and visitors in one of America’s greatest cities.”
His radish recipe for F&W “Radishes are the one crop that can just about grow anywhere. People think, ‘Oh it’s just a radish.’ But radishes are really delicious, and people don’t think of cooking them.”