Family keepsake goes national

David Moore’s passion for cooking was not handed down from a family of restauranteurs, nor was it from living in an area known for it’s wonderful cuisine.
Quite simply, it was born out of necessity.
Having been the oldest of three siblings living with a hard-working mother, he became the man of the house at an early age. He also had to feed his siblings.
“We were very poor but we had a charge account at the store down the street and I was often responsible for going there and bringing home dinner,” he said, smiling at the memory. “For a while, we ate a lot of ham sandwiches, bologna and Spam ... that got old pretty fast.”
So 12-year-old David began to spend a lot of time with his aunt, Lena Hebert, who he described as “a master in the kitchen.”
“She only had a second grade education and would speak to us in both French and English,” he said. “So I called her once to ask how to cook a sausage gravy and she brought me over and taught me. It wasn’t as good as hers, but we weren’t eating bologna sandwiches any more.”
So young David spent many days in his aunt’s kitchen, learning how to make numerous Cajun meals. And soon he began a 33-year-career in the restaurant industry, during which time he traveled to places like Chicago, often serving Cajun food at street festivals, and owned Nott’s Corner in Lake Arthur.
He also spent 20 years working with Sysco, a business which supplies food to restaurants.
“I spent a lot of time with chefs working there,” he said.
And perhaps more importantly, he began to make a name for himself. Several people throughout the years have come to him for recipes, which he mostly used to keep a secret.
“Once a man asked me for the recipe for my bread pudding (just one of the dishes he is well-known for) I told him it would cost him 500 dollars,” he said laughing.
Unfortunately, Moore “fell sick” five and a half years ago. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Just over two months ago his doctor delivered some grim news. His kidneys were functioning at a 10 percent level. He was told he had approximately three months to live.
“I understand that I could go to sleep and not wake up on any given night,” he said.
However, neither his appearance or his attitude reflect that of a man who is ready to accept his fate.
Aside from the dialysis machine next to his recliner, on Monday he looked as though he could have been any other man just sitting back in his recliner. And the look in his eyes showed absolutely no sign of defeat. In fact, his recent diagnosis apparently gave him a sense of purpose.
“I realized that I wanted to leave these recipes for my children — Nicholas, 17, and Allison, 16 — as a keepsake,” he said. “At first, that’s all it was. A family cookbook for them and their families to be able to use for years to come.”
However, he knew that time may be a factor. So with the help of his wife Wendy — “This never would have gotten done without her,” he says — they began to gather recipes that Moore had collected throughout the years.
He also decided to write his cookbook in a way that simplified things, using the exact measurements of each ingredient, so that the instructions are easy to follow, or as Moore put it, so that it’s “understandable to the common man.”
“A housewife in Pennsylvania could read my recipe for crawfish etoufee and make it for dinner that night,” said Wendy.
His cookbook also contains color pictures of his meals “so that people can get an idea of how it’s supposed to look.”
Soon something neither David or Wendy expected began to happen. When word got out that he was printing a cookbook, people took notice — and they haven’t stopped calling since.
As of Monday, his book entitled “Moore Recipes to Love” had 600 orders. He contacted a publishing company from Toronto to help with the printing.
And the orders for the book containing 82 recipes haven’t only come from the south Louisiana area. He has received orders from California, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Chicago area.
“At first, we had people contact us saying “I want a copy,” he said. “Soon we had people calling us asking for 10-20 copies.”
A Facebook page was set up only three weeks ago for those interested in ordering the book. It can be reached by typing “Moore Recipes to Love” in the Facebook search engine. In only three weeks, the Moore’s page has received 700 followers and counting.
“People knew I could cook,” said Moore. “But these recipes aren’t just mine. We have some of my aunt’s, some of my grandmother’s and some from Wendy. Wendy is more of a traditional French cook while my dishes are mainly Cajun. I don’t pretend to know everything about cooking. Anyone who says they know everything about cooking is lying.”
The initial copy of “Moore Recipes to Love” came out as a spiral bound book. However, as the orders kept coming in, David decided that he wanted to change his book to look more professional so he ordered some hardback copies as well. It also gave him the opportunity to touch up a few grammatical errors he noticed in the spiral bound copies he had already received.
And with each order it seems, David Moore has had to deal with a new-found popularity.
“Now people are wanting their books signed by me,” he said. “I really enjoy doing stuff like that.”
In fact, the Moore’s are planning a book signing date for anyone wishing to attend when the books arrive in mid-August. There will also be several of the dishes that are featured in the book served for those in attendance to sample.
And David Moore plans on being there.
“It’s given me something to look forward to,” said Moore.
The smiles on the faces of Wendy and David’s sister, Christy Ledet (who recalls the bologna sandwich days), are all the evidence one needs to understand how much “Moore Recipes to Love” has meant to a family that apparently has a strength that is uncommon to families of loved ones who suffer from serious diseases.
“David is an angel and I’m very proud of what he has accomplished,” said Wendy. “My heart is bursting with pride.”