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Pableaux Johnson

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Pableaux Johnson is a New Orleans–based writer, photographer, filmmaker, cook, and designer. His work focuses on the food and culture of New Orleans.

Biographical information

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Pableaux Johnson is from New Iberia, Louisiana. He attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and a few years afterward moved to Austin, Texas, where he lived for about 10 years. He moved from Austin to New Orleans in 2001.[1][2][3]

Writing

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Johnson has published four books, on New Orleans generally, New Orleans food, and football tailgate cooking.

He has also written for numerous publications including (with a date range of his articles in each, where available) The Kitchn (2017–23),[4] Culinary Backstreets (2022–23),[5] Saveur (2013–19),[6] Imbibe (2015–19),[7] The New York Times (2004–17),[8] Garden & Gun (2012–15),[9] The Bitter Southerner (2015),[10] Bon Appétit (2008),[11] Gambit Weekly (now Gambit) (2003),[12] The Austin Chronicle (1997-2001),[13] Texas Monthly (1997–99),[14] Food & Wine,[15] and Southern Living.[16]

Photography

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Johnson's photographs, particularly of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians and second-line parades, have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the United States, and published.

An exhibit of his photographs, "Of the Nation: New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians 2014," was displayed at the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture, in Oxford, Mississippi, in October 2014, and at the LeFevre Art Gallery at The Ohio State University at Newark from autumn 2015 to January 2016.[17][18]

The Fowler Museum at UCLA displayed an exhibit entitled "New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson," from December 16, 2018, to April 28, 2019.[19][20] The exhibit was later displayed at the Center for the Study of the American South, in Chapel Hill, until December 2019.[21]

Johnson published a series of photographs called "Second Line Sunday: New Orleans Street Dance" on LensCulture, the Dutch photography magazine and website.[22]

A 14-photograph slide show of his photos illustrated a 2013 New York Times piece about Louisiana king cakes.[23] His photography has been featured in other publications, including Gambit.[24]

Red Beans Roadshow

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For several years Johnson ran the Red Beans Roadshow, a traveling operation that brought New Orleans cuisine, and specifically red beans and rice, to "pop–up" events in restaurants around the country. (An ad for one of the events described his role in it as "wiseass/cook.") For example, there was an event in Nashville in October 2015, and a summer 2016 tour of mostly south-eastern U.S. cities. It appears that the Red Beans Roadshow ended around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, since the last online advertisement is for an event held in February 2020, in Dallas.[25][26][27][28]

Documentary filmmaking

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Johnson was credited as a co-producer and still photographer for two companion documentary films about New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians, The Spirit Leads My Needle: The Big Chiefs of Carnival and It's Your Glory: The Big Queens of Carnival.[29][30] Largely made by students at Ohio State University-Newark as service learning projects, New Orleans public television WYES-TV premiered the two documentaries in January 2016 and broadcast them through that February.[31] WYES re-broadcast them around Mardi Gras in 2021, 2022 (at least "Big Chiefs," which it described as among "Carnival classic programs"), and 2023.[32][33][34] They were also broadcast on WOUB-TV in Athens, Ohio.[35] "Big Queens" was nominated for a regional Emmy.[36]

Home and community cooking

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As a weekly tradition that has received significant media coverage, on Monday evenings when he is in town, Johnson cooks dinner—red beans and rice, cornbread, and "whiskey for dessert"—at his New Orleans home for a "rotating ensemble" of about ten to twelve "friends and friends of friends." In 16 years, he never had the same group, Johnson wrote in 2018. Johnson said about what to call the event, "When people describe the gathering as a salon or a dinner party, I almost always correct them. It is just people getting together and talking. It’s supper, not a dinner party."[37][38]

Since 2010, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Johnson serves as "Gumbo Claus," collecting many turkey carcasses and turning them into turkey stock which he uses to make "around 50 gallons of smoky gumbo" for friends.[39][3]

Character

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When writers want to describe Johnson in brief, they usually pick a word or phrase, often in French, for someone who's fun to be around: "raconteur,"[39] or "bon vivant,"[40] or "first order gadabout,"[41] or "beloved."[42]

Recognition

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  • Johnson's article "End of the Lines?" was nominated for the 2004 James Beard Foundation Award for Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs.[43]
  • Johnson's book World Food New Orleans won the Jacob's Creek World Media Award (silver)[citation needed]
  • Johnson's book Eating New Orleans was nominated for a 2007 Le Cordon Bleu World Media Award[citation needed]
  • Johnson's article "Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo" was included in the anthology Best Food Writing 2016[44]
  • A documentary film co-produced by Johnson, It’s Your Glory: Big Queens of the Carnival was nominated for a Suncoast regional Emmy, for best cultural documentary, in 2016.[36]
  • Epicurious named Johnson as one of the "100 Best Home Cooks of All Time" in 2017[45]
  • Johnson was among the top ten nominees for "Best Cocktail and Spirits Writer," Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards 2018[46]

Books

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  • World Food: New Orleans (Lonely Planet, 2000)
  • Legends of New Orleans (Blue Marble Music Guidebook series, 2001)
  • Eating New Orleans: From French Quarter Creole Dining to the Perfect Poboy (2005)
  • ESPN Gameday Gourmet: More Than 80 All-American Tailgate Recipes (2007)

Selected Articles

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References

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  1. ^ Falkowitz, Max (19 November 2016). "How to Cook Your Way Through Trauma With Red Beans and Rice". Saveur. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  2. ^ Price, Todd A. (1 September 2007). "Have Weber, Will Travel - OffBeat Magazine". OffBeat. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b Johnson, Pableaux. "Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo". Serious Eats. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Pableaux Johnson's Recent Articles". The Kitchn.
  5. ^ "Search results for pableaux johnson". Culinary Backstreets. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  6. ^ "Pableaux Johnson Archives". Saveur. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Articles by Pableaux Johnson". Imbibe. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  8. ^ "The New York Times - Search". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Pableaux Johnson archives". Garden & Gun. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  10. ^ Johnson, Pableaux. "Wild Creation: Mardi Gras Indians". THE BITTER SOUTHERNER. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  11. ^ Johnson, Pableaux (1 April 2008). "New Orleans". Bon Appétit. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  12. ^ E.g., Johnson, Pableaux (14 July 2003). "Slice of Life". NOLA.com. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  13. ^ "Pableaux Johnson Archives". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Pableaux Johnson". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  15. ^ Johnson, Pableaux. "Monday Night Red Beans and Rice". Food & Wine. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  16. ^ "Pableaux Johnson - Writer and Photographer". Southern Living. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  17. ^ "New Gammill Gallery Photography Exhibit on the Mardi Gras Indians". Center for the Study of Southern Culture. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  18. ^ "LeFevre Art Gallery". The Ohio State University Newark. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  19. ^ "New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs By Pableaux Johnson". Fowler Museum at UCLA. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  20. ^ "New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson". Artsy. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  21. ^ Melzer, Ashley (28 August 2019). "New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson". The Center for the Study of the American South. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  22. ^ "Pableaux Johnson". LensCulture. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  23. ^ "The King of Cakes". The New York Times. 29 January 2013.
  24. ^ E.g., Coviello, Will (15 February 2019). "Win Butler of Arcade Fire talks Krewe of Kanaval, the Haitian-themed Mardi Gras festival". NOLA.com. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  25. ^ "The Red Bean Roadshow". Camellia Brand. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  26. ^ Chamberlain, Chris (16 October 2015). "Lisa Donovan Joining Pableaux Johnson for Red Beans Road Show Pop-Up Oct. 25". Nashville Scene. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  27. ^ "Looking Back at the Red Beans Roadshow". Camellia Brand. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  28. ^ "RBR Coming to Dallas February 3". Instagram. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  29. ^ Bertrand Butler, Virginia Cope, and Michael Yearling (Executive Producers), Lolis Eric Elie, Pableaux Johnson, Ashlye Keaton, and Tiyi Morris (Co-Producers) (2016). The Spirit Leads My Needle: The Big Chiefs of Carnival (Documentary film). New Orleans.
  30. ^ Bertrand Butler, Virginia Cope, and Michael Yearling (Executive Producers), Lolis Eric Elie, Pableaux Johnson, Ashlye Keaton, and Tiyi Morris (Co-Producers) (2016). It's Your Glory: The Queens of Carnival (Documentary film). New Orleans.
  31. ^ "Morning briefing - Jan. 22". Morrow County Sentinel. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  32. ^ "HARDY AND THE MEDIA". NOLA.com. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  33. ^ "WYES announces premiere of new documentary about Blaine Kern". Offbeat Magazine. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  34. ^ "Schedule" (PDF). WYES-TV. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  35. ^ Votaw, Emily (22 February 2017). "Mardi Gras Indians Tradition Examined In OSU Newark Documentaries". WOUB Public Media. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  36. ^ a b "Ohio State Newark Documentary Nominated for Regional Emmy (press release)". The Ohio State University. Archived from the original on 16 December 2016.
  37. ^ Lam, Francis (21 April 2017). ""It's not a dinner party, it's just supper:" Monday nights with Pableaux Johnson". The Splendid Table. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  38. ^ Johnson, Pableaux (6 March 2018). "Whiskey For Dessert". Imbibe. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  39. ^ a b Sifton, Sam (24 November 2023). "Let's Talk Leftovers". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  40. ^ "Red Beans and Rice Recipe". NYT Cooking. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  41. ^ Raskin, Hanna (12 November 2018). "Champion of New Orleans' red beans on Mondays tradition headed to downtown Charleston". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  42. ^ Parsons, Brad Thomas (29 July 2022). "Dive Bar Jukebox with Pableaux Johnson". Last Call. Archived from the original on 18 September 2022.
  43. ^ "Awards Search Results". James Beard Foundation.
  44. ^ "Best food writing 2016 (incl Contents)". Montgomery County Public Library. Retrieved 1 January 2024. Some sites incorrectly say "2017". E.g., "'Everyday Sacred: A personal path to gumbo' by NOLA food writer Pableaux Johnson". Hungry Onion. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  45. ^ "The 100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time". Epicurious. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  46. ^ Mossati, Corinne (15 June 2018). "Top 10 Nominees for Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards 2018". Cocktails & Bars. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
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