Always for Pleasure / Yum, Yum, Yum!: A Taste of the Cajun and Creole Cooking of Louisiana

In-person: chef and restaurateur Alice Waters.

Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.

Always for Pleasure

U.S., 1978

On the streets and porches, in the living rooms and the kitchens of New Orleans, documentarian Les Blank observes an American city like no other. As one of his subjects puts it, “It’s the last place in America that you feel just sort of free to live.” A graduate of Tulane University, Blank acknowledges the complexity of the city’s history in that regard which deepens its scenes of jubilant celebrations brimming with life, from St. Patrick’s Day to Mardi Gras where red beans and rice and Cajun seasoned crawdads are consumed with copious amounts of beer.

DCP, color, 58 min. Director: Les Blank.

Yum, Yum, Yum!: A Taste of the Cajun and Creole Cooking of Louisiana

U.S., 1990

As Margaret Chenier, wife of zydeco master Clifton Chenier, slices fresh garlic in her Louisiana backyard, documentarian Les Blank asks her off-screen, “You don’t use garlic powder?” Without missing a slice she recalls her mother’s cooking and rejects the idea full stop: “There’s a lot of new stuff coming out but … we use that real good stuff.” Blank’s intimate deep dive into the techniques of Cajun and Creole chefs is all about the real good stuff they put into the preparation of catfish, crawfish, okara, chicken sauce piquante, candied yams, beef tongue and more. A mouth-watering melding of music, food and tradition, Yum Yum Yum delivers exactly what its title evokes.

DCP, color, 31 min. Director: Les Blank.

—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm

Part of: Food and Film