Back In Class

On this week’s show, we're going back to school for no ordinary education. 

We begin with Chef Jeremiah Tower, whose book, Table Manners, offers a 21st century guide to being a better host and guest. Jeremiah’s lessons on etiquette — and “techiquette” — come from a decades-long career owning and operating restaurants from California to Hong Kong.

Then, we meet some of the students of Big Class, a literacy program in New Orleans that uses food as an entry point for creative writing projects. In 2018, they will become part of the 826 National network, founded by author Dave Eggers. 

We also take an in-depth look at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and their flourishing Culinary Arts division — the only chef's training program offered at the high school level in the nation. The program's inception was due, in no small part, to Chef Emeril Lagasse. We meet Emeril on NOCCA's campus for the backstory.

After hearing so much about the program, we get to see it in action with Dana Tuohy, Culinary Department Chair, at the school's teaching kitchen.

Next, we step outside to Press Street Gardens, an urban farm and outdoor learning laboratory on the edge of NOCCA's campus. We find manager Marguerite Green at the garden's gate.

For the final stop on our tour of NOCCA's culinary program, we return to where we started — Press Street Station, a working restaurant open to the general public. We meet Chef James Cullen to learn how the restaurant furthers the students’s hands-on education, as well as what you can expect to find on their menu.

And we speak with Louisiana-born blogger and writer Kelly Williams Brown, author of Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps. Kelly discusses her transition into adulthood and offers several pieces of advice on the subject, many of which pertain to the kitchen.