NEW ORLEANS – Legendary trombonist and bandleader Fred Wesley is inviting family, friends and fans to dine with him at the first-ever HAPPY Meal Experience (healthy and plant-powered, yay!), 5 – 7 p.m. on Jazz Fest Tuesday, April 28, at Longue Vue House and Gardens, 7 Bamboo Rd.
Wesley, 82, adopted a whole-food, plant-based way of living in 2021. He was sick and facing forced retirement before his new lifestyle helped him drop 70 pounds, regain his health and reignite his international touring schedule, which this year includes an appearance at Jazz Fest on Thursday, April 30.
Along with a meal of delicious plant-based dishes and desserts and music provided by vegan DJ Brice Nice of WWOZ-FM, the evening will feature the stories of Fred and others using the power of plants to get and stay healthy.
“I feel too good to not let everybody know about this,” says Lee Arnold, a retired New Orleans fireman who conceived the event after using the same protocol as Fred’s to vanquish his own prediabetes, excess weight and inflammation. “We found a way to heal ourselves outside of Western medicine.”
The evening’s moderator will be Anikó Gréger, an integrative physician and host of the podcast “Nourished with Dr. Anikó,” whose medical practice emphasizes a holistic approach, including lifestyle approaches, to improve overall health.
“It’s even more important now, as we are increasingly losing our access to healthcare, to figure out how to keep yourself healthy with the tools that you do have. Movement and sleep and food—if you have those three in order, you’re good,” said Gréger. “That’s not to say that you’ll never get cancer or never get into a car accident, but your risk of developing a chronic disease is much lower, and your resilience is much higher—and your life experience is much better.”
Through food and living testimony, the event will demonstrate that getting HAPPY empowers people of all ages with a simple, enjoyable, and delicious way to take back the health and vitality stolen by the SAD (standard American diet).
The target audience is the greater New Orleans community of music makers and music lovers, especially those who share demographic factors with Wesley and want what he’s having: an extended and revitalized life and career. Particularly encouraged to attend are African Americans over 40 dealing with lifestyle maladies like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and pharmaceutical dependency.
Children eat free and can participate in a hands-on food prep activity with Natalie Guess, who will read from her children’s book “The Biggest, The Oldest, The Strongest … All Eat Plants.”
The menu will feature favorite New Orleans dishes, including red beans from chef Pam Pierre Brown’s Gourmet Sacred Soul Kitchen Therapy, alongside new favorites of Wesley’s, such as desserts sweetened with dates instead of sugar. Wesley changed his diet following in the footsteps of daughter and manager Joya Wesley, who used whole plants to reverse a lifetime of obesity and wrote the mini book “The Easy Breezy Whole Foodie: Opt Out of the Standard American Diet in Seven Steps.” A certified plant-based weight-loss coach, she will also share at the event, and participants will receive copies of her book.
Sharing their testimonies virtually will be Sarah Brooks, who used plants to take her life back from lupus, and journalist Byron McCauley, who started a HAPPY lifestyle to lose 70 excess pounds to heal from peripheral artery disease.
Longue Vue is a National Historic Landmark with a mission to preserve and share a legacy of design, community, and lifelong learning. It has a commitment to sustainability and a plant-based menu in its cafe. The HAPPY Meal Experience children’s activity is part of its ongoing Emma Brown Reading Program.
The acronym HAPPY, standing for “healthy and plant-powered, yay!”, was coined by Rachael Brown, author of the book “For Forks’ Sake: A Quick Guide to Healing Yourself and the Planet Through a Plant-Based Diet.”
Register for: HAPPY* Meal Experience – Longue Vue House and Gardens