New Orleans Food Culture

(photos taken by Michael Huen)
I think an appropriate last entry would concern my favorite foodcentric city-New Orleans. I had a chance to visit New Orleans in 2007 for an alternative spring break trip. We went to help with the recovery effort about 18 months after the hurricane and I had a really awesome, yet frustrating experience.

One of the most memorable parts of the trip was the food. From the beignets (French doughnuts) at cafe du monde to the giant muffaletta sandwiches to fried everything. The way that the people of the greater New Orleans area showed their appreciation to us was through food. I was with a group of people who were gutting a house that hadn't been touched since days before the hurricane. The family had fled to Houston and had not been able to return. During our lunch breaks, we would eat MREs, "meals ready to eat," provided by a Christian charity and the army. They were gross, but fascinating. There were thousands of calories in these inventive meals(not to mention utensils and condiments) that were packed into a small container. By some magical chemical reaction, you could heat the food up with water in the flameless ration heater--crazy.

After a few days we decided we couldn't eat another MRE. On our lunch break, we found a little mom and pop diner on the side of a road. We all had our volunteer t-shirts on and I'm sure we were looking the worse for wear. I didn't expect to find anything vegetarian on the whole trip so I was looking for the grilled cheese on every menu. On this menu, I order fried pickles. They really do fry everything in the south. We were treated so well at this place--at first we attributed it to southern hospitality but we sooned realized that people were thanking us in the best way they knew how, through hearty food.
After a table near us had left, the waitress came over and told us that the woman who was sitting there had paid for our lunch--all six of us. Then, the owner came over and said he wanted to show us something. (above) He led us to the back and showed us the fresh seafood catch from that very morning. He said he was going to cook some up for us, we waited and he came over with a giant plate of fresh seafood. The staff gave us hugs as we left and thanked us for coming, it was totally surreal.
We relayed our experience to the rest of the group when we got back that night and everyone was really surprised at the generosity.

The next day, the entire group was out to lunch (all 18 of us.) Once again, awesome staff and service at an out-of-the-way place. A woman came in to pick up her lunch to go, after she left, the waitress came up to say that she had paid for part of our bill. We were pretty taken aback. We were treated with so much kindness and it almost always had something to do with food.

I think this experience sort of sparked my curiosity and fascination with food culture. I love to read about what food means to people as far as their cultural identity-especially in the south. I was reminded of all of this recently by a February 2nd article entitled New Orleans: Eating its Way to Recovery (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28935341/)by F. Brinley Bruton. Bruton describes New Orleans food culture thus,

If my family were totally honest we would admit that food is our religion. It’s our most important pastime, our biggest obsession and greatest source of pleasure and strife. Food was the biggest reason our disparate clan put down roots in New Orleans, a place that has transformed food, drink and generally carrying on into high art.

Oh New Orleans, where else can you find this combination of French, Native American, Caribbean, Spanish and African cuisine, all melded together with distinctly American fare? I would love to live there, to study there. In fact, most people don't know that nothing would make me happier than living in the south and cooking all day, maybe running an apiary and living in an old house. On the other hand, my practicality kicks in when I think of southern cooking. It is so unhealthy! It's all white bread--literally, sandwiches are made of entire loaves of white bread stuffed with fried seafood. Oil, breading, creamy sauces...these are the essence of southern cooking. I have not yet resolved my desire for a healthier America and my love for comfort food and heart-killing southern food. Maybe someday...