Ever since I arrived in Natchez, I have heard about Mrs. Jarita Fraser King and soon after had the opportunity to meet with her. In that meeting we spoke only about Soul Food Fusion and Mardi Gras, but little did I know about the depth to which her expertise goes.
Mrs. Fraser-King is a professional soul food chef with many years of catering experience. She is the co-owner of Natchez Heritage School of Cooking, a heritage tourism school that’s been in operation for the past eight years which had a two-year recess due to Covid. The school caters primarily to tourists who stop by on tour buses. Jarita teaches them all about how Native Americans and African Americans influenced what is called Southern Soul Food. Jarita shared, “Being in this area of Mississippi we had a variety of people who inhabited this space and a lot of times Mississippians particularly, we do not get the credit for our contributions to our culinary history.”
At the school much emphasis is placed specifically towards domestic enslaved women who gave so much to what is now the Southern Soul Experience and Mrs. Fraser-King also incorporate a bit of my own family history. She said, “I am an eighth-generation descendant of a story between George FritzGerald who was a Scottish man who married a Jamaican woman who they believed was enslaved and we do have documentation of that.” She also showcases the culinary lessons learnt from her grandmother who left Natchez at the age of 19 to work at New Orleans Airport, which is now called Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport where she worked as a sous-chef for many years.
At the school Jarita also talks about her husband, Rodrick Duwayne King’s passion for Barbecue and the techniques through linguistics that was changed to barbecue but was originally called Barbacoa which is a Spanish term. She explained that enslaved people were not the first people to barbecue, it’s been done since the beginning of time. However, through the slave trade it became popular in the United States.
Natchez Heritage School of Cooking is not a typical culinary school where you learn culinary skills and graduate, in Jarita’s own words, “It’ is an edutainment school”.
Mrs. Fraser-King is in the process of publishing her cookbook entitled ‘Things my Grandmother Taught Me, Recipes from The Heart.’ It is an interactive cookbook where you can insert pictures and make notes. It’s being designed as a piece of memorabilia where you can sit it on the coffee table and can also serve as a family heirloom which is something we are losing out on as most of our seniors are passing and we don’t get to record that information.
CANNABIS
Jarita is a licensed cannabis edible chef and she also incorporates samples of her cannabis recipes into her edutainment classes once you have a medical marijuana card. If you are on a tour at least one person from your party must have a medical marijuana card to sample the treats. “It is all for ‘educational purposes’, where I talk about the benefits of CBD and THC!” she exclaimed.
Jarita explained that she is blessed to be one of twelve women who have been granted a scholarship into the McBride Sisters SHE CAN Fund. With the launch of their SHE CAN wines in 2019, The McBride Sisters SHE CAN Fund was created by the McBride Sisters Wine Company founders Robin McBride and Andréa McBride John to promote the professional advancement of women in the wine industry in a concerted effort to help close the gender and race gap. Jarita explained her goal is to become a wine sommelier and create her own blends of cannabis infused wines. “Look for my cannabis wines at Soul Food Fusion in September 2024,” she said proudly.
PARTNERSHIP
For the past year and a half, the eatery known as the Blues Bowl Lounge owned by Mr. and Mrs. King has been closed. Rodrick Duwayne King explained that it was too much for him to handle on his own. “We took a break from the business because I am a full time postal carrier and Jarita’s jobs took her out of the city a lot, kids were graduating and finding reliable help was tough. As a team, Jarita does all the cooking since she is a culinary expert and I do the grilling and with her being gone and along with everything else, I couldn’t do it alone. She is back now, so here we go again.” Rod explained while cutting up some freshly grilled smoked pork ribs.
With the relaunch of the business came a rebranding. It is now called Rod’s Grill and Chill. It is a place where you can come and grab a good meal, have a few drinks, listen to some good Blues and Southern Soul, relax in the backyard after a long day of work, and pretty much chill. “Trust me, we are goanna have you satisfied by the time you leave, because Rod’s Grill and Chill has barbecue smoke down to a science,” Rod said confidently.
“I am a grill and chill kind of fella, hence the name. Pretty much anything we can smoke, we smoke.” Rod said. Before the military he was never on a grill, but shortly after he came home from service, about 20 years now, he has become a grill master. “It really got started because I loved hanging out with my family, relatives and friends and I took to the grill because I love a good libation and with grilled food, they pretty much go hand in hand. It then became a passion, because when you get on the grill it becomes competitive with everybody else, because everyone wants to be the best griller. So, I had to fine tune my technique to stay ahead of the competition and pretty much everyone knows my grilled food is good. I call my style ‘Low and Slow’,” the grill master shared.
Breakfast will start in the middle of March from 6am – 10am and ‘edutainment classes’ will be going on during the day with team building workshops, wine and rouge class where guests can learn how to cook some sort of rouge-based dish. “You are not going to leave these classes and be the next top chef. You will pick up some knowledge about our heritage to take back home with you, but it is more about having fun,” Mrs. Fraser-King explained. They are open Thursday to Sunday until 10 pm with the grill starting at 6pm.
If you want to call in and place an order the numbers are 601 807-1008 or 601 870-8302 and if you want to stop by, they are right across the street from West Funeral Home.
