Jump to content

Pableaux Johnson

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pableaux Johnson
Johnson in 2006
Born(1966-01-08)January 8, 1966
New Iberia, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedJanuary 26, 2025(2025-01-26) (aged 59)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Alma materTrinity University (Texas)
Occupations
  • Writer
  • photographer
  • filmmaker
  • cook
  • designer
AwardsJames Beard Foundation Award

Pableaux Johnson (January 8, 1966 – January 26, 2025) was an American writer, photographer, filmmaker, cook, and designer whose work focused on the food and culture of New Orleans.

Background

[edit]

Johnson was born on January 8, 1966.[1] He was a native of New Iberia, Louisiana. He attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and a few years after moved to Austin, Texas, where he lived for about 10 years. He moved from Austin to New Orleans in 2001.[2][3][4]

Johnson in 2016

Johnson died on January 26, 2025, at the age of 59, after suffering a heart attack and collapsing while photographing the Ladies and Men of Unity second-line parade in New Orleans.[5]

Writing

[edit]

Johnson published four books, on New Orleans generally, New Orleans food, and football tailgate cooking.

He also wrote for numerous publications including (with a date range of his articles in each, where available) The Kitchn (2017–2023),[6] Culinary Backstreets (2022–2023),[7] Saveur (2013–2019),[8] Imbibe (2015–2019),[9] The New York Times (2004–2017),[10] Garden & Gun (2012–2015),[11] The Bitter Southerner (2015),[12] Bon Appétit (2008),[13] Gambit Weekly (now Gambit) (2003),[14] The Austin Chronicle (1997–2001),[15] Texas Monthly (1997–1999),[16] Food & Wine,[17] and Southern Living.[18]

Photography

[edit]

Johnson's photographs, particularly of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians and second-line parades, were exhibited in museums and galleries around the United States, and published.

An exhibit of his photographs, "Of the Nation: New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians 2014," was displayed at the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture, in Oxford, Mississippi, in October 2014, and at the LeFevre Art Gallery at The Ohio State University at Newark from autumn 2015 to January 2016.[19][20]

The Fowler Museum at UCLA displayed an exhibit entitled "New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson," from December 16, 2018, to April 28, 2019.[21][22] The exhibit was later displayed at the Center for the Study of the American South, in Chapel Hill, until December 2019.[23]

Johnson published a series of photographs called "Second Line Sunday: New Orleans Street Dance" on LensCulture, the Dutch photography magazine and website.[24]

A 14-photograph slide show of his photos illustrated a 2013 New York Times piece about Louisiana king cakes.[25] His photography was featured in other publications, including Gambit.[26]

Red Beans Roadshow

[edit]

For several years Johnson ran the Red Beans Roadshow, a traveling operation which brought New Orleans cuisine, and specifically red beans and rice, to "pop–up" events in restaurants around the country. (An ad for one of the events described his role in it as "wiseass/cook.") For example, there was an event in Nashville in October 2015, and a summer 2016 tour of mostly south-eastern U.S. cities. It appeared in 2024 that the Red Beans Roadshow ended around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, since at that time the last online advertisement was for an event held in February 2020, in Dallas.[27][28][29][30]

After a several-year hiatus, Johnson resumed the Red Beans Roadshow in January 2025 with an event scheduled in Nashville for January 11.[31] The Roadshow's Square website announced that the Nashville event was rescheduled to January 18, and that others were held in Atlanta on January 13 and Athens, Georgia, on January 14.[32] Another Roadshow website posted a map, indicating plans for 2025 events with legs in, in addition to the Southeast, the Northeast (e.g., Boston, New York, Washington), the "Cold North" (e.g.,Toronto, Chicago, Cleveland), Texas (e.g., Houston, Dallas, San Antonio), Central (e.g., Birmingham, Louisville, Kansas City), the West (e.g., Seattle, Denver, Los Angeles), and International (London).[33]

Documentary filmmaking

[edit]

Johnson was credited as a co-producer and still photographer for two companion documentary films about New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians, The Spirit Leads My Needle: The Big Chiefs of Carnival and It's Your Glory: The Big Queens of Carnival.[34][35] Largely made by students at Ohio State University-Newark as service learning projects, New Orleans public television WYES-TV premiered the two documentaries in January 2016 and broadcast them through that February.[36] WYES re-broadcast them around Mardi Gras in 2021, 2022 (at least "Big Chiefs," which it described as among "Carnival classic programs"), and 2023.[37][38][39] They were also broadcast on WOUB-TV in Athens, Ohio.[40] "Big Queens" was nominated for a regional Emmy.[41]

Home and community cooking

[edit]

As a weekly tradition that received significant media coverage, on Monday evenings when he was in town, Johnson cooked dinner—red beans and rice, cornbread, and "whiskey for dessert"—at his New Orleans home for a "rotating ensemble" of about ten to twelve "friends and friends of friends." In 16 years, he never had the same group, Johnson wrote in 2018. Johnson said about what to call the event, "When people describe the gathering as a salon or a dinner party, I almost always correct them. It is just people getting together and talking. It’s supper, not a dinner party."[42][43]

From 2010, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Johnson served as "Gumbo Claus," collecting many turkey carcasses and turning them into turkey stock which he uses to make "around 50 gallons of smoky gumbo" for friends.[44][4]

Character

[edit]

When writers described Johnson in brief, they usually picked a word or phrase, often in French, for someone who is fun to be around: "raconteur,"[44] or "bon vivant,"[45] or "first order gadabout,"[46] or "beloved."[47]

Recognition

[edit]
  • Johnson's article "End of the Lines?" was nominated for the 2004 James Beard Foundation Award for Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs.[48]
  • Johnson's book World Food New Orleans won the Jacob's Creek World Media Award (silver)[citation needed]
  • Johnson's book Eating New Orleans was nominated for a 2007 Le Cordon Bleu World Media Award[citation needed]
  • Johnson's article "Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo" was included in the anthology Best Food Writing 2016[49]
  • A documentary film co-produced by Johnson, It’s Your Glory: Big Queens of the Carnival was nominated for a Suncoast regional Emmy, for best cultural documentary, in 2016.[41]
  • Epicurious named Johnson as one of the "100 Best Home Cooks of All Time" in 2017[50]
  • Johnson was among the top ten nominees for "Best Cocktail and Spirits Writer," Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards 2018[51]

Books

[edit]
  • World Food: New Orleans (Lonely Planet, 2000)
  • Legends of New Orleans (Blue Marble Music Guidebook series, 2001)
  • Eating New Orleans: From French Quarter Creole Dining to the Perfect Poboy (2005)
  • ESPN Gameday Gourmet: More Than 80 All-American Tailgate Recipes (2007)

Selected articles

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Jordi, Nathalie (January 2025). "Visit Pableaux Johnson's Memorial Website". Ever Loved. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  2. ^ Falkowitz, Max (November 19, 2016). "How to Cook Your Way Through Trauma With Red Beans and Rice". Saveur. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  3. ^ Price, Todd A. (September 1, 2007). "Have Weber, Will Travel - OffBeat Magazine". OffBeat. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Johnson, Pableaux. "Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo". Serious Eats. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  5. ^ Paterson, Blake (January 26, 2025). "Beloved New Orleans photographer, foodie Pableaux Johnson dies after collapse at second line". NOLA.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  6. ^ "Pableaux Johnson's Recent Articles". The Kitchn.
  7. ^ "Search results for pableaux johnson". Culinary Backstreets. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  8. ^ "Pableaux Johnson Archives". Saveur. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  9. ^ "Articles by Pableaux Johnson". Imbibe. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  10. ^ "The New York Times - Search". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  11. ^ "Pableaux Johnson archives". Garden & Gun. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  12. ^ Johnson, Pableaux. "Wild Creation: Mardi Gras Indians". THE BITTER SOUTHERNER. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  13. ^ Johnson, Pableaux (April 1, 2008). "New Orleans". Bon Appétit. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  14. ^ E.g., Johnson, Pableaux (July 14, 2003). "Slice of Life". NOLA.com. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  15. ^ "Pableaux Johnson Archives". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  16. ^ "Pableaux Johnson". Texas Monthly. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  17. ^ Johnson, Pableaux. "Monday Night Red Beans and Rice". Food & Wine. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  18. ^ "Pableaux Johnson - Writer and Photographer". Southern Living. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  19. ^ "New Gammill Gallery Photography Exhibit on the Mardi Gras Indians". Center for the Study of Southern Culture. October 14, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  20. ^ "LeFevre Art Gallery". The Ohio State University Newark. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  21. ^ "New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs By Pableaux Johnson". Fowler Museum at UCLA. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  22. ^ "New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson". Artsy. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  23. ^ Melzer, Ashley (August 28, 2019). "New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson". The Center for the Study of the American South. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  24. ^ "Pableaux Johnson". LensCulture. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  25. ^ "The King of Cakes". The New York Times. January 29, 2013.
  26. ^ E.g., Coviello, Will (February 15, 2019). "Win Butler of Arcade Fire talks Krewe of Kanaval, the Haitian-themed Mardi Gras festival". NOLA.com. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  27. ^ "The Red Bean Roadshow". Camellia Brand. July 8, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  28. ^ Chamberlain, Chris (October 16, 2015). "Lisa Donovan Joining Pableaux Johnson for Red Beans Road Show Pop-Up Oct. 25". Nashville Scene. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  29. ^ "Looking Back at the Red Beans Roadshow". Camellia Brand. October 6, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  30. ^ "RBR Coming to Dallas February 3". Instagram. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  31. ^ Chamberlain, Chris (January 3, 2025). "Red Beans Road Show to Return to Nashville". Nashville Scene. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  32. ^ "Red Beans Roadshow". redbeanstix.square.site. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  33. ^ "Red Beans Road Show". Red Beans Road Show. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  34. ^ Bertrand Butler, Virginia Cope, and Michael Yearling (Executive Producers), Lolis Eric Elie, Pableaux Johnson, Ashlye Keaton, and Tiyi Morris (Co-Producers) (2016). The Spirit Leads My Needle: The Big Chiefs of Carnival (Documentary film). New Orleans.
  35. ^ Bertrand Butler, Virginia Cope, and Michael Yearling (Executive Producers), Lolis Eric Elie, Pableaux Johnson, Ashlye Keaton, and Tiyi Morris (Co-Producers) (2016). It's Your Glory: The Queens of Carnival (Documentary film). New Orleans.
  36. ^ "Morning briefing - Jan. 22". Morrow County Sentinel. January 22, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  37. ^ "HARDY AND THE MEDIA". NOLA.com. February 9, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  38. ^ "WYES announces premiere of new documentary about Blaine Kern". Offbeat Magazine. January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  39. ^ "Schedule" (PDF). WYES-TV. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  40. ^ Votaw, Emily (February 22, 2017). "Mardi Gras Indians Tradition Examined In OSU Newark Documentaries". WOUB Public Media. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  41. ^ a b "Ohio State Newark Documentary Nominated for Regional Emmy (press release)". The Ohio State University. Archived from the original on December 16, 2016.
  42. ^ Lam, Francis (April 21, 2017). ""It's not a dinner party, it's just supper:" Monday nights with Pableaux Johnson". The Splendid Table. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  43. ^ Johnson, Pableaux (March 6, 2018). "Whiskey For Dessert". Imbibe. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  44. ^ a b Sifton, Sam (November 24, 2023). "Let's Talk Leftovers". The New York Times. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  45. ^ "Red Beans and Rice Recipe". NYT Cooking. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  46. ^ Raskin, Hanna (November 12, 2018). "Champion of New Orleans' red beans on Mondays tradition headed to downtown Charleston". Post and Courier. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  47. ^ Parsons, Brad Thomas (July 29, 2022). "Dive Bar Jukebox with Pableaux Johnson". Last Call. Archived from the original on September 18, 2022.
  48. ^ "Awards Search Results". James Beard Foundation.
  49. ^ "Best food writing 2016 (incl Contents)". Montgomery County Public Library. Retrieved January 1, 2024. Some sites incorrectly say "2017". E.g., "'Everyday Sacred: A personal path to gumbo' by NOLA food writer Pableaux Johnson". Hungry Onion. October 16, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  50. ^ "The 100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time". Epicurious. June 12, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  51. ^ Mossati, Corinne (June 15, 2018). "Top 10 Nominees for Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards 2018". Cocktails & Bars. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pableaux_Johnson&oldid=1272532850"