{"id":8830,"date":"2019-06-20T07:00:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=8830"},"modified":"2019-06-19T17:16:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T22:16:05","slug":"free-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2019\/06\/20\/free-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chef Ronda Doucet of Cotton Culinary Catering<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chef’s Spotlight \u2022 By Karla Wall<\/em><\/p>\n

By Karla WallTalking for just a few moments to chef Ronda Doucet, it becomes clear she\u2019s a free spirit. Though she\u2019s worked in a few of the area\u2019s hottest establishments, including a brief stint at Brown Bag Caf\u00e9 in Moss Bluff, she\u2019s more content with jobs that fuel her love of travel and adventure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like most chefs, Ronda learned to cook, and to love doing so, as a child in her family\u2019s kitchen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chef Ronda Doucet<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents taught me to love cooking,\u201d she says. \u201cThey still love working together in the kitchen to this day.\u201d Her own daughter, now 14, has been cooking since she was 8.<\/p>\n

While Ronda loves cooking all types of food, she says her passion is Italian and Mexican dishes. \u201cBut I love cooking all of it,\u201d she says. She\u2019s had no formal training, she says, but has learned from the many great chefs she\u2019s worked under.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA chef from Chicago taught me to make deep-dish pizza to die for,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve learned to cook Asian food from chefs I\u2019ve worked under.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronda began her professional career at 18 upon graduation from high school, taking a job as a food runner for the buffet at Grand Casino Coushatta. She rose in the ranks to level-one and level-two cook, then to elite cook at Coushatta\u2019s Gumbeaux Oyster and Sports Bar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Coushatta job was followed by stints at L\u2019Auberge and Isle of Capri. In fact, she worked part-time positions at both venues for a time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But that free spirit led her to take a job a bit more out of the ordinary. She went to work as a cook on an offshore supply vessel, cooking for 40 to 50 people daily, 28 days on and 14 off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the ocean, being alone and away from crowds. I didn\u2019t have to deal with clients. I was up at 4 am, so I always got to see the sun rise. And the view was always beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the oil industry slowed down in 2013, she went back to Coushatta for a while, to work for her former executive chef at the Isle of Capri, who\u2019d taken a position there. She also went to work part-time for Cotton Culinary Catering in Lake Charles, where she still works.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She also worked for a time at one of the employee camps for industrial contract workers.<\/p>\n

When Chef Chris Wise of Brown Bag Caf\u00e9 posted on Facebook that he was looking for a sous chef, Ronda got in touch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe messaged me back the same day,\u201d she says.\u00a0 <\/span>So she left Cotton Culinary Catering to work full-time at Brown Bag. Again, that free spirit would compel her to leave \u2014 after three months. \u201cIt just wasn\u2019t for me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s now at Cotton\u2019s full-time, doing off-site catering, often for up to 1,200 people. The variety suits her, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done PR events at Cameron LNG, Axiall and other industrial facilities,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve done parties and weddings. We\u2019ve done a teacher\u2019s appreciation event for a local school.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Ronda is already looking beyond the horizon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to cook and travel everywhere,\u201d she says simply. \u201cThere\u2019s so much to see out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To that end, she\u2019s about to hire on, she tells me, as a traveling chef in Alaska.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another trait Ronda shares with most chefs is that her biggest thrill is seeing people enjoy her food.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to see the smiles,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And, also, like most chefs, she says cooking is her form of artistic expression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an art form,\u201d she says. \u201cIt opens up a whole world.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s deeply spiritual, and has worked with Water\u2019s Edge Church as a cook for church functions and their outreach programs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt my craft is a spiritual gift,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a God-given gift. And I want to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s done a lot of volunteer cooking on her own, as well, including one memorable Thanksgiving feast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was home alone that Thanksgiving, in 2015 or 2016, and I just felt led to cook for others,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I did the entire thing \u2014 I went shopping for a Thanksgiving dinner for 50 people, and bought takeout containers to pack everything in. I cooked all night that night, and had about 50 plates. I went through Moss Bluff, DeQuincy … all over Southwest Louisiana. I handed several plates to a nurse to take to a hospital for her staff. I sat in the Kroger Parking lot handing out dinners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the position in Alaska, Ronda says she\u2019d love to do missionary work overseas, especially in Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would just love to cook for and feed the kids of Africa,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d love to be able to change someone\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chef Ronda Doucet of Cotton Culinary Catering Chef’s Spotlight \u2022 By Karla Wall By Karla WallTalking for just a few moments to chef Ronda Doucet, it becomes clear she\u2019s a free spirit. Though she\u2019s worked in a few of the area\u2019s hottest establishments, including a brief stint at Brown Bag Caf\u00e9 in Moss Bluff, she\u2019s [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1830,2020,51,2019],"yoast_head":"\nFree Spirit - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2019\/06\/20\/free-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Spirit - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chef Ronda Doucet of Cotton Culinary Catering Chef’s Spotlight \u2022 By Karla Wall By Karla WallTalking for just a few moments to chef Ronda Doucet, it becomes clear she\u2019s a free spirit. 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