New Orleans food is the gift we give ourselves and share with others. Right now, in this season of gift giving, I want to recognize the key ingredient that is never up for awards or included on all those round-ups, run-downs and best-of lists.
After another year of trying to follow the ever-changing story of food and restaurants in this community, I am once again awed by the perseverance, the personality, the heart that flows through it all thanks to New Orleans people.
New Orleans food is a tale told with the garlic and cayenne of a seafood boil, the crunch and crumb of po-boy loaves, the gush of fat oysters and the burnished hue of a dark roux. But it goes beyond flavors.
It is New Orleans people and the connection though a lifestyle that revolves around food.
New Orleanians are not just an audience or a customer base. We are active participants, analysts, historians and ambassadors for a richer idea of a shared food culture.
It shows in how we relate to each other and weave family stories around our food and restaurants. It's part of our civic pride and it's a way to celebrate our own blessings and respond to the setbacks and losses and grief that life bring us.
It’s the New Orleans people who safeguard our food heritage and also step up for its future. It’s the people who bring fresh energy from their own traditions, transplanted or evolved. It’s those who innovate to meet changing needs and grasp new opportunities.
It’s my privilege to learn and share these stories and near the end of another year I’m carrying so many of them with me. Great food can stick with you. My waistline is a testament to that. But in a community like ours, where the connections between people and place and the passage of time is right there on our plates, it lives in your heart too.
