B.A. (history) summa cum laude, University of Southwestern Louisiana

M.A. (English literature), University of Southwestern Louisiana

J.D. Loyola University

Mr. Abel has also studied at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he lived for two years. He remains a practicing attorney, has served on the skills faculty of Loyola University, and writes regularly for West Law publishers. Mr. Abel has served as Manager of Cafe St. Cecile, and as executive chef and managing partner of the Chicory Farm Cafe. He has lived & worked in India and Puerto Rico. He has travelled throughout Western Europe and is a lover of classical literature and history. Mr. Abel's research interests include New Orleans culinary history and French colonial cuisine.

 

Charles Leary--RESIDENT FOR GRANADA PROGRAM

A.B. Kenyon College, magna cum laude (history)

M.A. Cornell University (history)

Ph.D. Cornell University (modern Chinese history)

Dr. Leary has taught previously as an Instructor and Assistant Professor at Tulane University University College. He has received fellowships and research grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Mellon Foundation, and the Starr Foundation and published in Republican China, Stockman Grass Farmer, Dairy Goat Journal, and Harrowsmith Country Life. He was a visiting researcher at the Institute of Modern History, Academica Sinica, Taiwan. As a graduate student he had a minor field in cultural anthropology. Dr. Leary left academics and worked for more than ten years as a cheesemaker and then as a chef and restaurateur for the past seven years. He has studied cheesemaking at the Washington State University Creamery and published a variety of articles on Chinese history, sustainable agriculture and dairy production. He has developed wine programs for three restaurants. Since 2003, Dr. Leary has lived in Spain and France. Most recently he has studied French language, culture, and wine and received a Certificate from the Alliance Francaise, Bordeaux-Aquitaine. His languages include Spanish, French, and Chinese.

 

Addditional education:

University of Oregon, classwork in history and art history, 1984

East Asian Summer Language Institute, Indiana University, 1986

Nanjing & Beijing Universities, Chinese language and culture, 1986-87

Harbin Institute of Technology, Chinese language & culture, 1988

Washington State University Creamery, Cheesemaking, 1994

Certified Milk Sampler as federally required, State of Louisiana 
Certified Milk Grader, Food Safety Services, Province of Nova Scotia

Wine Spectator School, Bordeaux class, 2006

Alliance Fraçaise, Bordeaux, French language & culture, 2006

Open Learn, Open University, London, nutrition & science classes, 2007

Centro de Lenguas Modernas, Universidad de Granada, Spanish, 2007

Memberships & Affiliations

Past member, Association for Asian Studies

Past member, Association for the Advancement of Science

Past Member, International Association of Culinary Professionals

Phi Beta Kappa

Past Member, American Cheese Society

Slow Food

Guilde des fromagers

Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching

Research Center for the History of Food & Drink, University of Adelaide

 

 

Vaughn Perret--RESIDENT FOR GRANADA PROGRAM

B.A. Loyola University (history)

Graduate Studies, Tulane University (anthropology)

J.D. Cornell University

Mr. Perret has always pursued a lifelong love and food and cooking. He has lived and travelled throughout Western Europe, spending substantial time in France during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He studied history, meso-American cultural anthropology and then law, before launching an entrepreneurial career as an organic gardener, cheesemaker, and mushroom expert who supplied the famous restaurant of New Orleans during the 1990s. He has received competitive research grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on mushroom cultivation technology, and established major food production gardens and plantations in Louisiana, Canada, and Costa Rica. Since 2000, Mr. Perret has been a chef, cooking school instructor, and restaurateur. He is an expert in wild food and edible mushrooms. He has studied at the Alliance-Francaise, Bordeaux, School of French language and civilization. His languages include Spanish, French, and Italian.

 

Memberships, Awards, & Affiliations

Guilde des fromagers

Slow Food

Past Member, International Association of Culinary Professionals

Past Member, National Association for the Specialty Food Trade

Past Vice President, Gulf States Mycological Society

First Annural Tibbetts Award, U.S. Small Business Administration

 

Abel, Leary, & Perret are co-authors of The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook: Creole Cuisine from New Orleans to Nova Scotia (Random House, 2004).

 

 

 

An article on Mr. d'Alos can be found here.