MARCELLE BIENVENU is a cookbook author and food writer who has been preparing Cajun and Creole dishes since the 1960s. Marcelle has written on Creole/ Cajun Cooking for The Times Picayune, Time-Life Books, and has been featured in Food & Wine, Saveur, Southern Living, Redbook, The New York Times, Louisiana Life, and Acadiana Profile.

Bienvenu authored: Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make A Roux? Who's Your Mama…(The Sequel), and Cajun Cooking for Beginners. She co-edited Cooking Up A Storm: Recipes Lost and Found (Times Picayune, 2008) which was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2009. She worked with Emeril Lagasse for fifteen years and co-authored several cookbooks with him including Louisiana Real & Rustic, Emeril’s Creole Christmas, Emeril’s TV Dinners, and Every Day’s A Party. 

She owned and operated a restaurant Chez Marcelle, near Lafayette, LA, and has worked for several restaurants, including Commander's Palace and K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans. A graduate of USL (now University of Lafayette in Louisiana). She was an instructor at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State Universityfor eleven years and lives on Bayou Têche in St. Martinville. LA, with her husband, Rock Lasserre.

Photographer Randy Krause Schmidt was born and raised in New Orleans.

Emeril Lagasse is the best-selling author of 19 cookbooks including his first, Emeril’s New New Orleans Cooking, which introduced his creative take on Creole cuisine. As a national TV personality, he has hosted more than 2,000 shows on the Food Network, and is the food correspondent for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Lagasse has received many accolades and awards for his culinary expertise, including, "Humanitarian of the Year" by the James Beard Foundation,  “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Food Network, “Distinguished Service Award” from Wine Spectator, “Chef of the Year” by GQ magazine, and many more.