Jyl B.

About

Jyl Benson began her editorial career in 1990 with The Times Picayune in New Orleans and served as a regional reporter covering the southeastern United States for both The New York Times and Time magazine. She wrote Galatoire's Cookbook: Recipes & Family History from the Time-Honored New Orleans Restaurant (Random House 2005) as well as several cultural, historical, and architectural guides to New Orleans. She served as Editor-In-Chief of Louisiana Cookin’ magazine from 2009 to 2011 and founded Louisiana Kitchen & Culture magazine in 2012. Her most recent cookbook Louisiana's Tables (Great Texas Line, 2017) explores the state's culinary culture based on settlement patterns. Fun, Funky, Fabulous: New Orleans Casual Restaurant Recipes (Pelican Publishing) was released in 2015. She currently serves as a columnist and feature writer for Acadiana Profile, Louisiana Life, St. Charles Avenue and New Orleans magazines. Her weekly blog “Side Dish” is sent to 40,000 readers weekly via myneworleans.com In addition to her career as a journalist she has worked as an independent publicist and marketing consultant since 1996 with a specialty in Louisiana culinary and hospitality-oriented businesses and was instrumental in conceptualizing and executing “The Galatoire’s Auctions.” Among the most legendary traditions associated with the celebrated New Orleans restaurant are those of the formidable lines outside the door before Friday lunch. Most notable are the Fridays before Christmas and Mardi Gras. Until 2006 loyal patrons or their proxies waited outside, sometimes for days at a time, to secure seating for these holiday luncheons. After Hurricane Katrina, during Mardi Gras of 2006, “the line” was replaced with a gavel and paddle, and the tableau of blanketed proxies in lawn chairs was replaced by two annual charitable table auctions. Since then, the Galatoire’s auctions have raised nearly a million dollars for a host of New Orleans charities. Benson has produced culinary demonstration stages, videos, and specialty cookbooks in conjunction with special events and trade shows. She was responsible for successfully producing three cooking demonstration stages with 30 chefs at the New Orleans Home & Garden and Interior Designs shows with sponsorship by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board, the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association, Viking, Lodge Manufacturing, Wusthof, All-Clad, and Kitchen Aid. From January 2015 until the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic she served as Director of Culinary and Garden Programming for the National Food & Beverage Foundation/the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, an institution dedicated to preservation and perpetuation of the culinary culture of the American South.

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