SCIA banquet offers recipe for success

Start with ingredients native to the area, combine cultural influences from around the globe, sprinkle in generous doses of personalized modifications and blend into an appreciation for basic goodness. That is the recipe that makes for genuine Louisiana culture and cuisine.

World-renown bayou native, Chef John Folse, the Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University bears his name, offered attendees at the South Central Industrial Association Awards Banquet his take on that recipe and took them on a tour of influences covering 300 years that make this region and its food popular around the globe.

As the SCIA keynote speaker during last Wednesday’s event, Folse told those in attendance at the Cypress Columns why students interested in culinary professions are attracted to the Nicholls State University program and how upon completion they go into the world representing the people and flavors of Louisiana.

“The Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University will only be judged by the quality of students coming out of that program representing the education that is being taught there,” Folse said.

Folse identified the not-so-secret recipe of Louisiana cooking as having started with Native American ingredients common to the area and told how over time the inclusion of African, French, German and Spanish foods came together to create a taste not found anywhere else in the world.

“[Our students] need to know there wasn’t one French nation that came to Louisiana,” Folse said. “It wasn’t just the old world French from Paris who arrived here. We teach them not only the food and ingredients, but the people.”

Folse identified cooking as involving ethnicity and history. “When they look at a food or an ingredient we want [students] to know what culture brought it here,” he said.

In addition to hearing from Folse, who is credited with introducing Louisiana cuisine to cities ranging from Paris to Hong Kong and built a culinary business based on flavors from his home state, awards, introductions and recognitions were offered among SCIA members.

Shamrock Management Marketing and Development Director Keli Bonvillain received a top individual honor when she was introduced as the Tillman Esteve Outstanding Member of the Year.

Bonvillain was described as a goal setter and achiever not only in private business, but as a SCIA committee member focusing on health, safety and security issues as well as fundraising events. She has been an active participant with the American Cancer Society, worked with the Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity and personally recruited more than 10 companies into SCIA membership.

Simone Theriot Maloz, last year’s Member of the Year recipient, commented that Bonvillain accepts SCIA challenges as her own. “She forges ahead to accomplish her goals,” Maloz said.

“I realized SCIA is an organization full of people who got things done,” Bonvillain said regarding her attraction to the organization. “I feel like I’ve received so much from SCIA. I really believe in the organization.”

The SCIA President’s Award was handed to state Rep. Gordon Dove. “Take a trip to Baton Rouge during a session,” outgoing SCIA President Tony Alford said. “You will see Rep. Dove actively searching for ways to help coastal Louisiana through coastal restoration and levee protection.”

Dove, who is chair of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee, Governor’s Coastal Barrier Island Committee and Lafourche Freshwater Diversion Committee for the state of Louisiana, was credited with producing needed funding for hurricane protection in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.

In private industry activities, Dove is owner and president of Vacco Marine Inc.; co-owner of American Cajun Restaurants (Copelands) in Houma and Lafayette; Dual Vacuum Trucks; Environmental Equipment Inc.; and is a state general contractor in commercial building and oilfield construction.

Along with being a SCIA member, Dove was noted as belonging to Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce, Synergy Bank board of directors, Offshore Marine Services, Mark Twain Club, Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the Louisiana Restaurant Association.

“I did all dat?” Dove jokingly asked after a list of his achievements was read by Alford.

“We’ve accomplished a lot,” Dove said. “We’ve gone through trials and tribulations and we did nothing but grow.”

Among the evening’s activities new SCIA officers were installed. They included Gulf Island Fabrication CEO Kirk Meche as president, Ted Falgout & Associates CEO Ted Falgout as executive vice president, Weatherford General Manager Pat Seeley as vice president, Certified Public Accountant Charles Theriot as treasurer and Rig-Chem President Lori Davis as secretary.

The new board of directors includes Lynn Falgout of Bollinger Shipyards, Robert Clemons of Seacor Marine, O’Neal Malbrough of Shaw Coastal, Edward Bouterie of Bourgeois Bennett, Tony Alford of ASLR/Falck Alford and Tony Boudreaux of Allied Shipyard.

“As I look back at the terms of our past presidents, it is very obvious that during their terms they each faced some type of challenge,” Meche said. “Some had lack of membership, some had lack of membership participation, some with natural disasters and some with man-induced disasters. But with all this, they had one thing in common … professionalism, encouraging people, the people who make up SCIA and have supported them in these challenging times.”

Meche credited SCIA membership as a group that has stuck together through both good times and hardships to deal with issues facing the business community. “I’m not going to try to predict the future, but I am sure there will be issues that affect us some way or another,” he said. “But rest assured, we will not lie down and ignore challenges.”