Todd and April Fell first visited New Orleans in 1971 and fell in love with the city. They had never seen any place in the United States that was so truly different – the exotic ambience, the wealth of historic architecture and the incredible food and people.

They quickly made up their minds to live there. At that time they were living near Galveston on a boat, so moving was not into a house, but into the Orleans Marina on Lake Pontchartrain. The next year they moved into a French Quarter apartment to better immerse themselves in the heart of the city.

Having made visitors’ guides of other cities, they knew how to put their enthusiasm for New Orleans into making a tourist guide book, which they called The Vignette. They published it for more than ten years, during which time they bought and restored houses in Uptown, raised their kids in New Orleans schools, rode in Carnival parades and tried to eat in as many restaurants as possible.

Todd is a photographer and designer, while April is an artist and writer. They share a passion for history, art, travel and New Orleans food. Together, they created the book New Orleans, a City Named Desire, which brings to life many fascinating aspects of this unusual city.

Now they have worked together to research, photograph and present the colorful story of the origins of the city’s unique cuisine  – 250 Years of Creole Cooking. Their new book presents over 100 old Creole recipes, their histories, vivid photographs and many historic illustrations showing the interesting evolution of New Orleans’ famous Creole cuisine.