Conversations with Wes Scoggins

I came from a family where culinary tradition was very important- as a Texan and a Jew, I stand in two cultures where passing food traditions down is a big part of your identity. My older brother went to culinary school, and I worked under him and got a culinary education through osmosis. I went to film school and moved up here from around New Orleans to get a job on a Netflix show; after a few years working in the industry, I hit a dry spell, and some friends of mine desperately needed help with their food program. I went to help them right before the pandemic started and was responsible for trying to keep the program alive during the pandemic. We struggled, and I decided to try something different, inspired by a coworker asking me who I felt did the better brisket: Texans or Jews. When I said I combine aspects of both, everyone reacted with a great deal of interest, and that was when I realized it was a unique cultural tradition that maybe interests others. I scraped together money to pay for a special pop-up menu focusing on my family history of combining Jewish and Texas cuisine. It paid off with a big positive reaction. I have slowly been developing it, and after being sidelined by a bad wreck in October, I am rebuilding and working on many new projects.

It hasn’t. I lost my Mother a few years ago and keeping her culture and memory alive through our food traditions has been important. The career shift from film to focusing on my culinary skills was tough. The pandemic and keeping the restaurant I was working at at the time alive were very challenging. The wreck and rebuilding from that have been another challenge to overcome. Regrettably, I have also gotten some threats and pushback against people displeased with my Jewish heritage being front and center in the project.

I love finding bridges between food traditions. My people, the Sephardic Jews, came to America from North Africa, Spain, and Portugal. Many Mexican and Texas culinary traditions and flavors melded in America, riding the same currents that brought my people here. So, I want to find bridges and commonalities in Southern and Texan food and bring people together by building hybrid recipes that rebuild aspects based on where they came from. I make a Texas chili influenced by North African Tajines. I make a brisket part Jewish oven brisket and part Texan smoked brisket. I make black-eyed pea falafels dunked in hot chicken oil. I love taking local Southern ingredients and reimagining them in new forms and classic Southern recipes with new twists and flavors. I think my cultural heritage is unique, and I love sharing these concepts and building new concepts with one foot in the familiar and one food somewhere else.

We spent much time living way out in the middle of nowhere, learning to fish and work our little farm. I was always pretty nerdy, never had many friends, and always focused on personal projects and learning new things. I was always writing some new story and had some new ideas about a new character or concept. I loved the learning aspect of school. I was never a big fan of the other kids, who usually had little patience for me. I found companionship in imagination and eventually met more exploratory-minded people I could bond with and bounce ideas off of. While my isolated upbringing lends an extra importance to sharing my heritage, the collaborative natures of film and food have been great to stoke my curiosity and love of learning.