Leah Chase (1923-2019) was a legend of New Orleans cuisine. She believed that a bit of hard work and good food in her dining room could help change the course of American history.
Leah Chase (1923-2019) was a legend of New Orleans cuisine. She believed that a bit of hard work and good food in her dining room could help change the course of American history.
Food has been a unifier for millennia, not just gathering people together to share a meal, but acting as a warm introduction to new histories and traditions. This February on Womanica, we’re celebrating Tastemakers - the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past. The impact of chefs like Pig Foot Mary, Mama Dip, and Georgia Gilmore stretch far beyond the culinary scene - uplifting their local communities and inspiring those who came after them.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
Follow Wonder Media Network:
Hi! I'm Chef Kia Damon.
I'm a Florida born chef, writer, host and recipe developer. I served as an executive Chef of New York City restaurant Lalito at the age of 24 and became Cherry Bombe magazine's first Culinary Director at 25. Since leaving I've founded Kia Feeds The People, a budding mutual aid effort. I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we're talking about Tastemakers. We're celebrating the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past.
Today, we’re talking about a legend of New Orleans cuisine. She believed that a bit of hard work and good food in her dining room could help change the course of American history. Let’s talk about Leah Chase.
Leah was born on January 6, 1923, in Madisonville, Louisiana, a small town on Lake Pontchartrain. She was the second oldest of 11 kids raised by Charles and Hortensia Lange, a hardworking, loving couple. Hortensia, a homemaker and seamstress, always made sure her kids kept their elbows off the table and en-nun-ci-at-ed their words correctly. Charles, who worked in the shipyard, taught his children how to read using salvaged books and a pocket bible. Growing up, Leah lived by her father’s mantra: “pray, work, and do for others.”
Leah finished her schooling across the lake in New Orleans, where she attended a Roman Catholic high school. There, she achieved excellent grades and developed a strong devotion to religion, which she’d keep for the rest of her life.
Leah graduated at age 16 and pursued a string of odd jobs– including managing two amateur boxers. Soon, though, she took a job waiting tables at a restaurant in the French Quarter. And just like that, she’d found her calling.
Leah loved that job, from the hands-on process of cooking home-style meals, to the sheer beauty of the restaurant she worked in. Most of all, she loved the people that congregated in that little establishment; the way family and friends came together over a hot plate, the conversations that sprang up from all corners of the dining room, the sense that a real community existed and subsisted off this food.
In 1945, Leah met Edgar “Dooky” Chase, Jr., a jazz trumpeter and band leader. They married a few months later and had four children. Around town, people knew them as “The Chases.” The movie theater always knew to get enough hot dogs and hot tamales ready when the Chases came for a screening; trick-or-treaters and Mardi Gras revelers made way for the Chase children, clad in costumes hand-sewn by Leah; and everyone knew to stake out the PTA bake sale for when Leah arrived– her lemon meringue pies always sold out.
After the kids had grown up a bit, Leah and Dooky took over his family’s po’boy and lottery shop in the Treme, one of the oldest African-American neighborhoods in the country.
Leah’s father-in-law first opened the shop that would become Dooky Chase’s Restaurant back in 1941. At the time, New Orleans was a deeply segregated city, divided by racist practices and Jim Crow laws. The sandwich shop became a place for Black folks to gather, and eat something good. Leah eventually helped expand the shop and turn it into a sit-down restaurant, and finally, a fine dining establishment. A rare thing for Black people at the time. Soon, Leah saw the restaurant become a safe haven.
Dooky Chase’s emerged as a meeting place for important figures in the fight for Civil Rights. It also became one of the only places where white and Black people could gather to eat and talk together. Leah served members of the NAACP, Freedom Riders, and everyday customers. Dooky Chase’s fame as a well-loved spot protected it from police raids.
Leah was a pillar of the Treme. She came in every morning, right on time, to open the restaurant and prep meals. She made her values known and clear: she didn’t like explicit rock and rap music; she did believe in dressing modestly; she didn’t support abortion; she did intend on feeding every person who came through her door a hearty, filling meal.
And Leah stayed devoted to her corner in the Treme. Through hard economic times in the 1980s, she stayed put, and even renovated Dooky Chase’s. When Hurricane Katrina flooded the restaurant, she rebuilt it.
She used to say, “Running away from it isn’t going to help anything or anybody. If you can’t take a risk, you’re wasting God’s good time on Earth.”
Dooky Chase’s also became known for the art that adorned the dining rooms. Leah went to an art museum for the first time in her life at the age of 54. When she was growing up, museums were segregated. But after that visit, Leah began collecting art. She amassed Louisiana’s best collection of African-American art, and shared it with her diners on the walls of Dooky Chase’s.
For years, people vied for one of the 700 reservations to Leah’s special Holy Thursday Lunch. It was an annual tradition. Leah served her gumbo z’herbes, which featured nine different types of greens – collard, beet, and cabbage to name a few. When Leah didn’t show up to the lunch in April 2019, it was the first sign of her failing health. Leah died a few months later in June 2019. She was 96.
Over the course of her career, Leah racked up a list of accomplishments, plaques, honors and titles far too long to list. She served presidents, famous musicians and civil rights leaders – she was even the inspiration for a Disney princess. But the one trophy she always showed off with pride was her Times-Picayune Loving Cup. It celebrates civic participation and unselfish community service– and it reminded Leah every day of the community she brought to life in her restaurant.
All month, we’re talking about tastemakers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
Talk to you tomorrow!