joe cahn - RIP

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Joe Cahn, the comedic New Orleans cooking school teacher who ate his way across America bringing laughter at every stop as the self-professed commissioner of tailgating, died Monday. He was 70. Cahn’s wife Karen said he died of cardiac arrest at a hospital near their home in Fort Worth, Texas.

After a career in New Orleans as a chef and cooking school teacher, Cahn invented the role of Commissioner of Tailgating for himself in 1996. He sold his business, the New Orleans School of Cooking, which he had founded in 1980, bought a motor home and hit the road in search of good game-day food.

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i worked for Joe at the NOSOC in the early 90's, for my first "real" job; joe was a genuinely funny guy with an authentic passion for new orleans and its food. i booked his off-site cooking classes all over the city and state, and every class ended with several cold dixie beers with joe. that was the most fun job i ever had, and then he did me the favor of introducing me to the execs at the royal orleans, which started me on a 15 year hotel career, where i made my fame/fortune and met my wife.

i still cook his jambalaya recipe every time.

RIP