JBF Awards: Leah Chase, Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Client: James Beard Foundation / Bowen and Company
Format: Short Form Event Video
Release: 2016
Duration: 3:42

This year’s Lifetime Achievement award went to chef, restaurateur, television personality, and “Queen of Creole Cuisine” Leah Chase, whose New Orleans restaurant, Dooky Chase’s, pioneered Creole cooking in the United States and made dishes like jambalaya, gumbo, and fried chicken into kitchen staples. In a town deeply divided by segregation, Dooky Chase’s, which is still open today, was one of the only public places in New Orleans where mixed race groups could meet to discuss strategy for the local Civil Rights Movement. Chase is also a patron of the arts, and her collection, displayed on the walls of the restaurant, was at one time considered the city’s best collection of African-American art.

A Linton Media Production, produced for the James Beard Foundation in collaboration with Bowen and Company.

Executive Producer / Director:
Katherine Linton

Editor:
Alison Shurman

Post-Producer / Additional Editing:
Jorge Garcia-Spitz

Directors of Photography:
Elaine Epstein, Sam Rider

Assistant Editor:
Zoe Alexander

Re-Recording Mixer:
Rafi Chen, Nati Taub, Ronen Nagel / SoundAround Studios, Tel Aviv

Producer / Production Manager:
Genevieve Baker