"Be proud of where you come from!
Be thankful for what's on your plate.
The grass always seems greener
in another part of the state!"
-Chicory & Roux: The Creole Mouse and the Cajun Mouse
Children's book and cookbook author Todd-Michael St. Pierre has made
a career embracing who he is and where he comes from. Born in
Jefferson Parish on a Monday when "his Mama was making red beans
and rice," St. Pierre has a deep love for lyrical poetry and the
cuisine of Southern Louisiana. He began writing at the age of 12
after hearing the song "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugar Hill Gang
on the radio. " It was so well done, I thought, and it was catchy
and it made me think, you know I'm going to start writing down my
ideas," says St. Pierre. "I thought if those people on the radio
can do it, I can too!"
His
first children's picture book titled Somewhere:
As Told By Garrett the Parrot
was published in 1990, and though it's currently out of print due to
a now-defunct publisher, St. Pierre still has a few copies lying
around. Since then, his books just keep coming. He released a picture
book about how the brown pelican was chosen to be the Louisiana state
bird titled The
Louisiana State Bird Beauty Pageant
in 2001; A Woolly
Mammoth on Amelia Street
in 2003; Makin'
Groceries: A New Orleans Tribute about
a young boy helping his maw-maw at her Cajun & Creole Cafe during
summer vacation was released in 2008 and so on. St. Pierre currently
has a total of eight children's picture books in his repertoire with
more on the way.
In
the midst of a burgeoning career writing children's books, St. Pierre
wrote his first cookbook titled "Jambalaya,
Crawfish Pie, File Gumbo"
which was published in 2000. His maternal grandmother had passed away
and he chose to honor her memory the only way he knew how. "It
haunted me," he confided. "I felt like I really needed to write
down all of her recipes the way she did them and I needed to do
something to celebrate and commemorate her." Like many Louisiana
families, cooking was an important part of daily life, but St.
Pierre's maternal grandmother, originally from Ascension Parish,
imparted a great love for eating and cooking classic Cajun cuisine to
her grandson. "From the time I was real little, she would let me
stand on a stool and help her make beignets," says St. Pierre. "She
would always say that she had twenty grand kids and I was the only
one who was really interested in knowing how to prepare the heritage
food." After his first taste, writing cookbooks
became his newfound passion and a string of successful titles from A
Streetcar Named Delicious
and A Confederacy
of Scrumptious
to House of the
Rising Bun
and The Southern
Po-Boy Cookbook came
pouring from his fingertips.
Currently living in Baton Rouge with his partner of 22 years, St. Pierre has a full-time job contributing to educational textbooks used to teach English to students in India, Africa and China, but that doesn't stop him from his own creative writing. The Louisiana author recently released Thibodeaux Turtle & Boudreaux Bunny: The Tortoise & The Hare With a Louisiana Twist in October 2019 and we anxiously await the re-release of The Crawfish Family Band with a new illustrator and publisher (Tubby & Coo's in New Orleans). Visit LouisianaBoy.com for more information or to purchase his books!
**Featured image courtesy of The Livingston Parish News
