Dear Friends Thanks to all of you for your money, concern, support, and continued interest in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. This newsletter will give you an update of our activities.
Because of events -- namely hurricanes Katrina and Rita –- we have had to postpone the toy exhibit that had been planned for display at Mardi Gras World in November.
However, we have remained active as a museum and have collected information, artifacts and other documentation on the food and water issues related to these hurricanes. In partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance, we are launching the Gulf Coast Foodways Renaissance Project: An Oral History Initiative, which will chronicle the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the foodways of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast while also tracking the rebirth of the New Orleans restaurant industry. SOFAB will continue collecting books, menus and artifacts for our final home. But we continue to operate virtually, taking our exhibits to the people, rather than to an ivory-towered museum. We strongly believe that our time without walls will teach us many lessons about reaching out and partnering.
We will be part of rebuilding the city of New Orleans and look forward to your continued support with those efforts.
| More on the Renaissance Project |  | Thanks to a generous initial grant from the Fertel Foundation, SOFAB curator Elizabeth Pearce already has begun collecting oral histories, photographs, artifacts and other information and artifacts for documenting purposes and in order to create the Gulf Coast Foodways Renaissance Project exhibit.
We are currently negotiating venues for this multi-media exhibit, and we are planning a book to tell the foodways stories related to Katrina and Rita. If you have a story or photographs, or are interested in collecting oral histories, please call 1-888-926-1999 or email us at info@southernfood.org.
Forms, checklists, interview tips and other information is available on our website. |
| Menu Project Keeps Growing | | Our Menu Project collection continues to grow. This collection is establishing a much needed database for researchers exploring the economics, the culture and the trends in restaurants and eating. If you would like to donate either cookbooks to add to our collection or menus, please send them to 1435 Jackson Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130 or email us at info@southernfood.org. |
| Chef Austin Leslie, 1934-2005 | | New Orleans chef Austin Leslie, famous for for his sublime fried chicken, Creole soul dishes, trademark white captain's hat, died last week in Atlanta, following a arduous escape from Hurricane Katrina. He was 71.
In addition to his garlic and dill pickle crowned fried chicken, Leslie was known for his stuffed peppers, gumbo and other Creole soul standards. He made his mark at his family's restaurant, Chez Helene, which provided the inspiration for the 1980s television show "Frank's Place."
Until Katrina struck on Aug. 29, Leslie had been working at Pampy's Creole Kitchen, which has shut down in the flood's aftermath. Prior to that, Leslie worked at the popular Jacques-Imo’s in Riverbend neighborhood of New Orleans. Read more about Chef Leslie in the New Orleans Times-Picayune Austin Leslie's Creole Soul Cookbook |
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