Food

Each week, there’s news of more well known New Orleans restaurants reopening, from Dooky Chase’s to Commander’s Palace. And each time you can practically hear New Orleans food lovers cheering them on. It’s natural. We root for our own, and we support them through the slow summers here and rally for them when some calamity strikes.

But as the drumbeat of reopenings continue and the dangers of the coronavirus crisis stretch on, we have to remember how different this struggle is from all the others, and what’s at stake.   

The coronavirus crisis has altered nearly every corner of social life, local tradition and business norms. The next example is a New Orleans experience that intersects all of these realms: Saints football.  

People in Louisiana are renowned for food, from top restaurants to tailgate cooking. But no culinary magic is required for the most important meals we ever put on a plate: the ones we serve to others in need. Once again many people in Louisiana have been thrust into that position by Hurricane Laura.