As a photographer, cook and writer, he united communities through shared meals, vivid storytelling and a deep love of the city’s traditions.
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Pableaux Johnson, a New Orleans food writer, photographer and cook who spread the gospel of community by serving bowls of red beans and rice to thousands of people, and who documented the city’s singular Mardi Gras traditions, died there on Sunday. He was 59.
Mr. Johnson’s sister Charlotte Aaron said he was photographing a second-line parade — something he did often — when he experienced cardiac arrest and could not be revived at the hospital.
Mr. Johnson moved to New Orleans in 2001 and quickly became what the local chef Frank Brigtsen called a “joyful fixture” in the city.
“He embraced New Orleans, and it embraced him back because he was so authentic,” Mr. Brigtsen said in an interview.
Plenty of Mr. Johnson’s friendships — essentially everyone he met — began over a bowl of red beans and rice, a traditional Monday meal in New Orleans. He cooked it every week, at first for a small group of friends but soon for pilgrims from all over the country who loved the city’s food and culture.
His rotating group of guests might include not only local musicians, famous chefs and visiting journalists but also a neighbor who needed a meal or a friend with a broken heart.
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