(ThyBlackMan.com) Her mother was a domestic and still serves as an unbridled inspiration, raising her 9 children on positiveness and humbling pay. She’s a chef and a businesswoman whose charmed in kitchens and television studios with everyone from Phil Donahue and Dick Gregory, to 60 minutes with Sylvia Chase, to recently deceased New Orleans food icon and personal friend, Leah Chase. Her name is Carolyn Shelton, a Lafayette, Louisiana native who was raised in Houston’s French Town Creole neighborhood, whose calling card as a chef, author, speaker, and sought after etiquette coach has brought her to the table of some of the world’s biggest food, culture, and entertainment giants over her nearly 50-year career.
A former restaurant owner, Carolyn’s tapped literature as a means to spread the goodness her culinary talents have to offer, from the kitchen’s of the South to the pages of her books distributed worldwide: Angelina’s Zydeco Okra Cookbook, Zydeco Blues and Gumbo, Carolyn’s Creole Cajun Celebrity Cookbook, and Coffee, Tea or Watermelon: Life as a Flight Attendant, which features Chef Shelton on the cover with a super imposed Continental airplane behind her from her days as a member of the friendly skies. She says of those bygone times working the air, “I might be on the beach in Maui or Honolulu having Mai Tai’s, but I knew if I really wanted to eat good, I had to come home.”
Her newest work is 47 years in the back of the house, a special tribute to the unsung African-American heroes who worked tirelessly in homes and kitchens, on plantations and cafeterias, throughout the deep south for hundreds of years, often times with little to no compensation or acknowledgement. The first series in 47 years is a collection of twenty-five stories which highlight the contributions of the lesser or unknown names in history, or as Carolyn says,”The unacknowledged black folks working in the back of the house.” She adds excitingly, “We don’t even know all their names or all their contributions but this book is dedicated to them.”
Aside from the book, Carolyn’s overall mission is to teach, educate, and remind the next generation of African-American’s that they indeed made major contributions to the culinary world. Some of the lost names have been recovered in recent history and depicted in film and literature pieces even fictitiously, including the 2009 book The Help, followed by a film by the same name in 2011. Nathan “Uncle Nearest” Greane, for example, was a slave in Tennessee, who was recently, posthumously, credited with teaching the trade of whiskey distillery to thee Jack Daniels nearly 300 years ago. The Brown family, which owns and controls the Jack Daniels brand within its expansive portfolio, boasts a $12 billion dollar net worth. The Jack Daniels company then set up the Nearest Greane Foundation in honor of Nathan Greane and to ensure his name is never forgotten.
47 years in the back of the house was inspired by these stories and Chef Shelton’s desire to see the light shed upon these hardworking, forgotten characters and their hard work, which was often overlooked and undervalued. “I want to be clear that this is not an angry book, though, and I am not an angry person. My mother didn’t raise the kids like that,” Chef Shelton remembers fondly. “And another thing: you can’t make an angry Gumbo! This book is about the love for those people.”
The 47 years book aims to pay homage to those who Chef Shelton says,”Died poor, faced unbelievable racism, but stirred those pots, browned those roux’s and created those hidden treasures from the back of the house in places like Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.”
The highlight of her new book, and forthcoming TV show by the same name, is not merely the accomplishment of the publication itself, but the cathartic, reciprocal methodology behind the creation. A testament to a Louisiana crowned jewel, whose life has been spent giving back through her etiquette programs, her Southern cuisine and her authentic passion to serve, is found between the pages of her latest literary addition.
47 years in the back of the house will be available for purchase in November at 47years.com and has story features on various chefs like the aforementioned Leah Chase and the lesser acknowledged Mrs. Narcisse, who has worked the cafeteria of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette well into her 80’s. “That’s called work ethic and I want the next generation to understand what it takes and that it can be done.”
Staff Writer; Charles Foster Jolivette
This talented young man can also be found over at; The California Creole and also Charles Patreon Page.