RadioNOLA Décembre 2014

Though our two guests this month practice different trades, one a fiction writer, the other an artisan baker, they have quite a lot in common, particularly their ability to make our history accessible, into something we can experience every day, whether it be by reading about plantation life in the Tremé or by eating Acadian Miche bread purchased from a stall in the French Market.

Fabienne Kanor is a French/Martinican author in residence in New Orleans. In today’s Let’s Get Lexical segment we’ll continue with the second piece of a series in which Fabienne reads an extract called « La vielle » from Humus, her historical novel about slavery in the 18th century, inspired by the true event of 14 women who rebelled. Fabienne in now in New Orleans, researching and writing her next novel based in the history of planation life in New Orleans and its environs. In January, Fabienne will begin teaching a creative writing course at the Alliance Française. She sat down with our host Mary Matthews to introduce us to her beautiful fiction.

First we’ll sit down with Graison Gill, the baker and proprietor behind Bellegarde Bakery, whose bread is inspired by the original Bellegarde’s Bakery founded in 1722, which once sat at the corner of St Anne and Chartres in the French Corner. We’ll learn about what it means to be a baker in New Orleans, and particularly one who starts by producing in house his own flour with a traditional stone mill. After we sit down with Graison, we’ll get to dive a bit into the history of bread in New Orleans with a visit to Bellegarde Bakery’s Bread Class, exploring the history of New Orleans’ bakeries and the bakers behind the institutions, from the original Bellegarde to today’s contemporaries.