Lynn Jones
With our series At the Market, we’ll highlight some of our favorite farmers market vendors from the Nashville area.
A common farmers market conundrum is seeing all the beautiful food and buying more than you’re able to cook or consume in a timely manner. Lynn Jones, known by her market moniker The Creole Diva, has a solution via authentic — you guessed it — Creole cooking.
Originally from New Orleans, Jones learned how to cook as so many of us do — from her grandmother. After being displaced by Hurricane Katrina, she ended up in Nashville and eventually met Keith, a then-unhoused Contributor vendor turned friend who offered her a bag of fresh zucchinis. Jones accepted the gift and used it to make him zucchini bread.
“He said, ‘Anybody can bake and cook, but I can taste the love that you put into this,’” says Jones. Keith encouraged her to start selling food at a farmers market, and The Creole Diva brand was born. The two are still friends today — Keith has since found housing and he gives Jones the first crops from his garden each year.
Since Jones started it in 2012, The Creole Diva brand has blossomed into a local staple that’s outlasted many fellow vendors and even some markets. Jones’ food is also available via catering, but at markets, she sells red beans and rice, jambalaya, dirty rice and spice mixes, all of which you can throw in your pantry. You can also find bread pudding, tomato jams, olive salad for muffulettas, and rotating baked goods like zucchini-onion pie or sweet-potato-orange-pecan bread. Jones prioritizes using local produce and offering health-conscious options like saltless spice mixes. She dreams of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant and is considering “dabbling in veganism.”
I made the Creole Jambalaya Mix and it was fantastic. The directions on the packaging are easy to follow and come together quickly. They’re organized in a way that builds flavor as you cook, and there are optional instructions for “a little more umph.” The packaging says it serves four, but I had lots of leftovers after serving three. Jones doesn’t add salt, so taste as you go and season as needed.
“Everything I make is made with love,” says Jones. “No additives or preservatives. And when I do it, I pray that wherever it goes it will nourish every body that my food hits.”
You can catch The Creole Diva Tuesdays at the East Nashville Farmers Market and Saturdays at the Richland Park Farmers Market. Check out The Creole Diva Facebook page for more information about availability, offerings and updates.
