Biden’s ambassador brings Louisiana word ‘lagniappe’ to the world stage

Joe Biden’s pick to serve as his US ambassador to the United Nations, a position that has been effectively removed from Donald Trump’s cabinet, spun the “all politics is personal” mantra into what she calls “gumbo diplomacy.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a Louisiana native and career diplomat who worked under Barack Obama’s administration alongside the former vice president, said in remarks from Delaware on Tuesday that she would often invite people to help make the dish when she was working abroad, injecting a few Louisiana-centric terms into her aphorisms, as Mr Biden laughed in the background.

“I’d invite people from different backgrounds and beliefs to make a roux and chop onions for the holy trinity and make homemade gumbo,” she said.

(The holy trinity: onion, bell pepper and celery.)