Local unsung food hero, Marcelle Bienvenu, instructor of culinary arts, graces Nicholls with years of experience in cooking.
In a class full of culinary students, Bienvenu is easily spotted wearing a clad black dress with matching shark tooth jewelry that adorns her ears, wrist and ring finger. She commands the room’s attention even though she only speaks to two culinary students about developing their menu for a project.
Bienvenu grew up in St. Martinville, LA where she was a part of a big family that cooked for enjoyment.
“Ever since I could eat, I had been introduced to cooking,” Bienvenu said. “My mother and father were very good cooks. My father was a Boy Scout leader that taught the boys how to cook on an open fire. My mother’s family was a farming family, so we got milk from cows and used items from our garden to cook.”
Bienvenu graduated from University of Southwestern Louisiana, now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, with a degree in English and history in 1967.
“I really didn’t mean to get in the food business,” she said. “After I graduated, I worked with Time Life books, and they were doing research for their Acadian creole cookbook. They called me to help, and I said, ‘I know everything there is to know about Cajun cooking. I ate it all the time.'”
After finishing the cookbook, Bienvenu got a call from Ella Brennan from Commander’s Palace, and she asked her if she wanted to work there as catering director.
“I told her I did not want to be in the restaurant business because they worked at night and on weekends,” she said. “Ella said, ‘Oh, I would never make you do that.’ But of course, she lied.”
Bienvenu started to work in catering at Commander’s Palace. Bienvenu and Brennan shared their differences in cooking New Orleans food and Cajun food.
“I started to become interested in the culinary history of food,” she said. “I was interested in why we eat what we eat. I just fell into the cooking industry.”
In 1980, Bienvenu left later to start her own restaurant in Lafayette. It closed in 1984 due to problems in the business industry.
“I started writing a food column in the Times Picayune in 1984, and I continued to do that,” she said. “It is in the paper every Thursday in the food section.”
In 1992, Emeril Lagasse called and asked if Bienvenu could work with him on his cookbooks. She worked with him until Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
Chef Randy Cheramie, instructor of culinary arts here at Nicholls, called Bienvenu three years ago because they needed more instructors, and there were too many students in the culinary program.
“He asked me if I would teach, and I knew nothing about teaching,” she said. ” I came, and it has been an adventure. It is very different from anything I have done before.”
Recently, Bienvenu has been working on a cookbook for the TV series True Blood.
“I don’t know what vampires eat, but I’ve been looking at some of the episodes to figure out what they eat,” she said.
Out of all the variety of foods to cook, Bienvenu’s favorite is Italian food.
“I don’t think I have any Italian blood in me, but I love all things Italian,” she said. “I love the flavors such as the tomatoes, olives and cheeses.”
Bienvenu teaches two Bistro classes where students learn how to work as a team in the kitchen and also as wait staff. She also teaches a culinary history of the south class.
“I want my students to learn how to work as a team,” she said. “You can not run a restaurant with just one person. You always have to work as a team. The world is their oyster, they can do anything they want if they put their mind to it.”
Readers can learn more about Bienvenu and check out her cookbooks by going on her website at marcellebienvenu.com
