French Quarter - What's Cooking Wednesday with Janie Luster
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve
presents a
What's Cooking Wednesday
Food Demonstation
Wednesday at 12:00 noon
At the National Park Service French Quarter Visitor Center
419 Decatur St, New Orleans
Learn about south Louisiana history and culture and celebrate Native American Heritage Month while observing a cooking demonstration.
You’ll get to taste a sample of the food at the end of the demonstration.
Janie Luster will be making Corn Maque Choux.
Janie grew up in the Houma Indian community of Bayou DuLarge, LA and still lives there today. Her parents were the late John and Mary Verret both traditional Houma Indian artists. Janie is a well known Houma artist, basket weaver, and cultural preservationist.
Janie creates beautiful jewelry and artwork using the scales of the Alligator Garfish. Janie is responsible for reintroducing the Houma Half-Hitch Palmetto basket weaving technique to her tribe, the United Houma Nation. She learned this method from the late Richard Conn, former Chief Curator of Native Arts, at the Denver Museum of Art. The Houma tribe is the only tribe in the country that practices this technique that was lost in the early 1940’s. In keeping with traditions she has passed on this basketry knowledge to her three daughters and granddaughters and currently teaches others in her tribal community.
Janie also lectures on how the Houmas used herbal medicine. Janie comes from a long line of traditional healers or medicine women/men from both sides of her family. Janie is a tribal and community advocate. Janie is a Master Artist of Louisiana and has received the United Houma Nation Cultural Preservation award and the Louisiana Division of the Arts Folk Life Fellowship award (in 2011). In 2019, Janie was one of five Louisiana tradition bearers honored during Louisiana Folklife Month.
Janie is also known for her cooking talents and has appeared on Chef John Folse’s GATHERING OF THE SEVEN NATIONS and his cooking shows on the PBS stations and also with Loretta Olden’s Seasoned with Spirit cooking show.
This program is free and open to the public.
(Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.)
Fees
Free and open to the public
Location
National Park Service French Quarter visitor center - 419 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70130. (Near the statue of Bienville.)
Latitude and Longitude 29.954823, -90.064770
Schedule
Date:
Time:
Duration:
12:00 noon to 1:00 pm Central Time
Event Type
- Cultural/Craft Demonstration
- Talk