Earlier this week, I had one of those enviable New Orleans moments. There I was: standing in a farmers market, debating with a group of market-goers as to whether Lent’s Gumbo des Herbes does or does not contain meat.
All of a sudden, descending like a paratrooper from the sky, a gentleman chimed in with “Hold on, I’ll phone my mama to find out.” As it turns out, this gentleman — Gavin Goins — not only phoned his mother, but also his aunt Leah Chase. As you may know, Dooky Chase’s highly-coveted Holy Thursday Gumbo des Herbes is the place to be before Easter. For what it’s worth, Leah’s version contains meat, as it turns out, because it’s served on Thursday, not Friday. And there I was learning about the intricacies of our region’s food traditions on a Tuesday morning, standing in a farmers market.
For the WWNO Farmers Market Minute, this is Richard McCarthy