Where Are You From?

Where are you from? While what we eat may reveal our origins, it can also reflect our life's travels from one home to another. Chef Anh Luu was born in New Orleans to parents who emigrated to the United States from Vietnam. She discovered her love of restaurants at the age of 15 when she first began working the line. When Katrina blew Anh and her family to Portland, Oregon, she became a pioneer of Viet-Cajun cuisine – an amalgamation of her Vietnamese and Louisiana heritage. She's now back in New Orleans, serving up her signature dishes at Bywater Brew Pub. Vishwish Bhatt discovered an incredible commonality between the Indian food of his childhood in Gujarat and the Southern cuisine he came to love in Oxford, Mississippi – a topic he explores in his new book, I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef. Finally, we sit down with Chef Jacqueline Blanchard to learn how a Cajun girl raised on Bayou Lafourche ended up crossing the world to open Sukeban, a bar and restaurant modeled after traditional Japanese izakayas, right here in the Crescent City. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.