Sustainable Solutions #5, February
Keeping Food Culture Alive or "Waiter, There's a Ghost in My Gumbo"

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? It's Mardi Gras season and I am absolutely pining to return to the Big Easy. Truth be told, I've never visited for the parade. It's not the beads, beer, and debauchery that's the draw for me. It's the food. From a fresh fried po' boy at the neighborhood shop to succulent oysters napped with a fine sauce at a white table-cloth restaurant it's all delectable. But more than that. Tuck into dinner in New Orleans and you will never eat alone. Generations of ghosts attend every meal.

You can learn a lot about a place from the local bill of fare. The history of New Orleans and the surrounding region is complex &mdash a point of convergence, and sometimes clash, of diverse ethnicities, creeds, and economic means. The cuisines that have been built there reflect this intricate past. Generations of Spanish, French, Native American, and African cooks have all had their turn at the stove and have added their influence. There's no better example of America's "melting pot" than an old Louisiana cauldron on the boil.

A lot of those well-worn vessels were washed away this hurricane season. Many of them had been passed down through generations &mdash and not just as sentimental keepsakes. Louisiana people cook. Not just the foodies and the grannies. This is not a town of shiny copper pots on display over a "professional" style range. Cookware in New Orleans doesn't get its glimmer from being polished and dusted. It earns its patina through faithful service at countless weddings, funerals, picnics and the occasional fais-do-do. As New Orleans and the Gulf are rebuilt kitchens will be replaced; new, maybe even better ranges and ovens will come into use. But what of the well-seasoned gumbo pot?

I read in the NY Times just this week that the food traditions of the area are driving a large part of the city's rebirth. It's not just because eaters have lost their kitchens and need to fill up. They could do that at any fast food outlet. It's because food isn't just fuel in New Orleans, it's the connection that defines and unites its population. Eateries of all kinds &mdash high-end places that cater to the business crowd as well as po' boy shops and other neighborhood joints &mdash are serving as the communal hearth. A place to gather, talk, and recharge. These establishments aren't just offering eaters a meal, they are giving them a taste of their community as it existed pre-k (before Katrina).

You can't get that in a drive-thru. National fast food chains have put a lot of mom and pop eateries out of business. In doing so they've installed their universally similar menu in the space that used to be filled by regional specialties. This dumbing-down of food diversity not only robs us of flavor and dilutes the complexity of our culture, it also weakens our communities. It's a lesson that NOLA residents know in their bones—loose the cultural thread of food and the fabric of the community unravels. But maintain your food traditions, and you can keep the soul of your neighborhood alive. It's a bit of insurance that, no matter what the rebuild brings, the waft of the pot will call the saints to come marching in.

This month, invoke the spirit of New Orleans by enjoying your own pot of gumbo or other local dish. Find a Fat Tuesday celebration in town, grab a feather mask and hit it. I do some volunteer work for Slow Food. They are sponsoring a national Mardi Gras Mambo—a nationwide effort to support the food professionals of the Gulf Region so they can keep their wonderful food culture alive. Contact your local convivium for more information or help out by donating to the Terra Madre Fund (http://www.slowfoodusa.org). If you are in the New York area, email me at mardigras@slowfoodnyc.org for tickets to a Fat Tuesday Feast at the Brooklyn Brewery. Or gather some friends for a pot of rice and beans, throw some Dr. John or Radiators on the CD-Player and have yourself a hootenanny. Let's all raise a glass to this cherished food culture that continues to nourish its eaters, body and soul.

Keep it real,

Sherri

Sustainable Solutions may be reproduced in whole or in part by contacting sherri@sherribrooksvinton.com

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