Emeril Lagasse is most famous for bam!-ing cuisine into American households, but the affable chef is more than just a kitchen wizard: His charitable efforts earned him the 2013 James Beard Foundation Award for Humanitarian of the Year. Nov. 8, the Emeril Lagasse Foundation hosts two of its biggest fundraisers in New Orleans: Boudin, Bourbon & Beer, a beer-soaked, kick-up-your boots celebration of sausage, and the upscale, bucket-list Carnivale du Vin gala the following day.

What inspired you to add the Boudin, Bourbon & Beer event to the Carnivale du Vin weekend?

I wanted to reach out to more people in Louisiana, people in New Orleans, people in Mississippi with something more accessible. I’m a big fan of boudin; it’s a Louisiana staple, and it can be so creative. We have more than 40 chefs from St. Louis to Memphis to California coming to do their take on boudin and help our effort.

Your charitable work has been focused on food, as well.

It’s been an issue of mine for a while—the health of young people and the whole obesity crisis. At the Green Charter School’s Edible Schoolyard Project in New Orleans, children are learning about the soil and the seed, and about harvesting it and cooking it and consuming it. I wish I had the ability to do it nationwide.

Beer’s made a strong statement in the culinary world. What’s your take on that?

We’ve done numerous beer dinners; that has really [happened] because of the sheer interest of people and their enjoyment of beer and food pairing. People love beer, and they want to see how beer really matches with food. What beers have you been drinking lately? I don’t have Celiac disease and I don’t have a gluten problem, but I’ve been tasting a lot of gluten-free beers lately, and I’m really intrigued by what some of the craft people are doing. There’s a pale ale that I recently had that was really delicious, made with sorghum. I’ve been a fan of sorghum for a long time. I have a sorghum sauce, almost like a maple syrup, that’s on our chicken and waffle dish, so I was very intrigued to see what that would taste like in a beer.