Chef Lemaire: There’s Unity and Strength in Haitian Cusine

Award-winning Chef Alain Lemaire, from the "Luda Can't Cook" series with rapper Ludacris, talked to USA Today about Haitian food — its bold and layered flavors; history rooted in freedom and survival; and power to bring people together. Find excerpts below; read the full interview here and grab his recipe for creole chicken with cashews.

What kinds of reactions do you see from people trying Haitian food for the first time?

The shocked expressions when they taste our dishes. It's not a unilateral landscape of flavors: It's layers of flavors. Especially if the food is well seasoned. Also, our Haitian cuisine is a mix of African, French, Spanish and even some Middle Eastern flavors. When you talk about the slave trade, the spice trade, migration from Arab countries: Everyone brought their spices and flavors with them.

This is what Haitian cuisine is all about.

What would you like people to know about Haitian food and Haitian people?

Haitian food is very rich, flavorful; it's bold, fresh and in your face. It is the heart of what we represent because food for us is not only about nutrition, but it brings everybody together. Every celebration involves food. It's about unity and strength.

Our food also comes out of struggle, the fight we have to endure and out of making the best of what we have available.