On Embracing Fear with The Rousseau Sisters

Jamaican sisters, cookbook authors, and restauranteurs Suzanne and Michelle Rousseau join Julia for a conversation about the spirit they bring to their work and the experiences that have informed how they approach life. It’s a conversation about learning to trust your own voice, to embrace fear, to be your own champion, and to just keep going.

Michelle and Suzanne have a long history of collaboration. They’ve run a boutique, a catering business, restaurants; they’ve appeared on television and have co-authored two cookbooks. Their first, Caribbean Potluck, came out in 2014 and their latest, Provisions: The Roots of Caribbean Cooking, came out in December of 2018. It’s not just a book of contemporary vegetarian recipes— and it is a great one!— it’s also the history of Caribbean cooking, which is the history of women and the dual legacies of slavery and colonization. It’s a book about what was available, what wasn’t, and how women have sustained their communities despite all odds.

The episode also features answers to listeners' questions (for more about Leanne Brown's book that Julia mentions, Good and Cheap, head here!) and a shout out to Brownsville Community Culinary Center (to learn more about them, head here).

For information about the February 21st event Suzanne, Michelle, and Julia will be doing together at MoFAD in Brooklyn, head here! Please join if you can.

For more about Suzanne and Michelle, head here.

And for more about Julia Turshen, head here.