The Cookbook that Built a Church and A Whole Lot More!

For All Saints' Church what started in 1974 as a fund-raising dinner has grown into a highly successful nationally-known cookbook, La Bonne Cuisine, which is now in its thirteenth printing with over 162,500 copies in print. La Bonne Cuisine is an incorporated arm of the Episcopal Church Women (ECW) of All Saints', but men and children are also involved. In a parish the size of All Saints', everyone can be involved; at one time just about everybody was. In the beginning people helped out by making calls to potential and established customers, carrying books, delivering books, wrapping gift baskets - whatever needed doing.

It all started with the dinner. People really liked the food. The same thing happened the next year. Soon the ECW began selling copies of recipes for a dollar. Could the parish put together a real cookbook? Would it sell? To whom?

After intensive research, an idea with wide appeal emerged. The cookbook would contain recipes for typical New Orleans food, photographs of New Orleans scenes, recipes from famous local restaurants and short vignettes about New Orleans customs. AND, it would have a magnificent eye-catching cover. Recipes started flowing in from parishioners. They were evaluated, carefully rewritten in standardized form, and tested three times by parishioners at a series of cottage dinners. during the tasting phase everyone gained at least five pounds!

La Bonne Cuisine was born. in 1980, after three years of work with art directors, photographers and printers, La Bonne Cuisine was on the market. There was a press party and reviews were good. La Bonne Cuisine got some established accounts and was on its way. Soon a second printing was ordered. Profits were designated to go toward retiring the mortgage of the new church building and to mission work of the church. In 1989 La Bonne Cuisine reached the milestone of 100,000 books in print and $100,000.00 contributed toward the church mortgage. The mortgage was retired that same year. Currently, $2.00 FROM THE SALES OF EACH LA BONNE CUISINE:Cooking New Orleans Stye & COOKING NEW ORLEANS STYLE! GOES TO HURRICANE KATRINA RECOVERY.

Profits have continued to be designated to mission work as well as to retiring the mortgage on a small office building shared by La Bonne Cuisine and the church. That mortgage was retired in 1996.

Today LBC publishes three cookbooks, each containing different recipes. In addition to La Bonne Cuisine, which currently retails for $23.95, they are Cooking New Orleans Style!", which retails for $10.95, and Lagniappe, a small book of appetizers and desserts, which retails for $3.00

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