EVANGELINE PARISH — In Mamou, Ellen Robinson has built her life around the lessons her father passed down — lessons about hard work, determination, and never letting anyone tell her she couldn’t do something. She says those lessons shaped her in all aspects of her life
“My parents taught us to cook, at an early age from me burning rice on top of the stove to us learning how to cook meats and my father cooked in the home all the time,” Robinson said.
When asked what it is about cooking that continues to pull her back to the kitchen, Robinson didn’t hesitate. “Well cooking is a form of expression.”
Her father’s influence stretched far beyond food. “He didn’t say that his daughters could not do certain things, he always told us that we could do what we chose to do, and that nobody could stop us.”
Robinson put that to the test, working right alongside him in construction. “He always told us you can do anything you put your mind to, and if that meant I was in the cement, that wasn’t no big deal. Cause my father was a master cement finisher home builder you name it, he was a jack of all trades.”
That same drive still carries her. “And I still play basketball at 59! you need to talk to that 8th grader that I had looking bad,” she said with a laugh.
Today, Robinson spends her days at Mamou High School as a substitute teacher and lunch worker, while also keeping local traditions alive in her kitchen. “I make these traditional donuts called croquesignoles, that I enjoy sharing with my neighbors here in this community.”
Her philosophy remains as straightforward as the lessons she grew up with. “If you wanna go and do a certain job, well go do it,” Robinson said.
