November 8, 2002

Crescent City Farmer's Market coordinator shares her love of food with New Orleans

by Jessica Davis, A'04, Intern in the Offices of Public Affairs and Publications

Even in New Orleans, few people love food as much as Kay Roussell. For 20 years, she worked as a chef at such restaurants as Commander's Palace, Flagon's, Gautreau's, and K-Paul's. She also was the executive chef to Tulane's president. Because of Roussell's experience with food, she was the natural choice for the market coordinator of the Crescent City Farmer's Market. This job just fell into her lap.

She explains, "I had a friend who worked at Jazz Fest. We were shucking oysters for a Super Bowl party when she told me that they were looking for a coordinator at the Cooking and Heritage stage." Roussell was the natural choice for the job of organizing chefs for the festival's cooking demonstrations. Right after Jazz Fest, her friend ran into the president of the board, Sharon Litwin, at the Farmer's Market. She was looking for someone to work at Riverside Pasta, an institute which was funded by a USDA grant to teach low-income people how to run a business. The institute falls under the Economics Institute, an umbrella organization that also oversees the market. Roussell worked with Riverside Pasta for two years before moving to the job of market coordinator.

The Crescent City Farmer's Market, which has existed for seven years, provides fresh produce and other regional products from the farmers themselves. Roussell says that at any given market there are between 12 and 30 vendors, and overall, they have about 50 vendors. Every week, three markets are held in different locations. On Tuesdays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., the market is at Uptown Square at 200 Broadway. Another market is held on Thursdays from 4 until 7 p.m. at the American Can Company at 3700 Orleans Ave. The Saturday market is from 8 a.m. until noon at 700 Magazine Street.

Roussell's job is overseeing these three markets. She sets up the markets and makes a map for the vendors' spaces. "I also have to make sure that the vendors get to the market. Right now, there is a lack of crops because of the storms. I am struggling with how to get the shoppers to come when there is a shortage of crops and vendors." Roussell also lines up chefs for demonstrations and does public relations work for the market. "There have been so many articles written in newspapers about us, but we still have people who come up and say that they didn't know anything about us."

Throughout the year, the market has special events to try to gain more awareness. For Halloween, they had pumpkin carving contests as well as trick-or-treating. "For the month of November, we are going to have a Yamboree on the last Saturday before Thanksgiving to celebrate sweet potatoes before the holiday."

Roussell believes that the market is important because "local produce tastes better. Also, there has been a decline in small farmers and farms. Markets revive that. The small farmers use less invasive methods rather than lots of chemicals. Another benefit is that it keeps the money local rather than letting it flow out of state. The market helps people to reconnect with where their food comes from, because so many people don't know."

Roussell explains that this job is a dream come true. She explains, "I really like food and having access to fresh food. Also, there is a real sense of community. I'm from a small town, and you have that sense of community at the market. You know everyone. You may not know their names, but you recognize their faces. I like the idea of being around people who grow things. I like to do physical and mental work, and this job combines that. Through this job, I get to meet people from all walks of life."

Ultimately, Roussell wants to encourage more people to come to the market, which is open come rain or shine. "I wish I could get more people to love food the way that we do at this office. I also want to tell people to not be intimidated by fresh produce. Farmers will tell you how to cook with it. You could walk up to anyone of the farmers at the market and ask them what to do with kale, and they would tell you."