The SoFAB Research Center at Nunez Community College fosters the study of the dynamic culture of food and drink by enabling the diverse community of researchers to access its collections of books, ephemera and material culture.
In October 2022, the Southern Food & Beverage Museum and Nunez Community College opened a combined research center on Nunez’s campus in St. Bernard Parish. The partnership between SoFAB and Nunez combines SoFAB’s 40,000 culinary books, thousands of menus and pamphlets, and hundreds of archived artifacts with Nunez’s state-of-the-art library and archive facilities. The SoFAB Research Center and Boyd Library consolidates culinary research by making it possible to cross-reference all SoFAB collections - the Boyd library, the archives, and the artifacts - creating new opportunities for in-depth research on the history of food and drink in the South.
Combined, SoFAB and Nunez offers something unique for the region: a full-service culinary research center that will be animated by Nunez's culinary programming and utilized by students, researchers, and interested members of the community throughout the Gulf South.
The Archive
The SoFAB Research Center and Boyd Library also houses a variety of archival material available for researchers. We continue to accept donations of archival material related to food and beverage, such as personal or family correspondence, menu collections, recipe cards, photographs, restaurant advertisements, etc.
The SoFAB Research Center and Boyd Library is non circulating, so no books or archival material can be removed from the premises.
Donating
Those wishing to donate are encouraged to fill out a Deed of Gift and email us for more information.
Support the research center
The Southern Food & Beverage Museum needs your help expanding our Research Center and Boyd Library at Nunez Community College!
We accept donations of culinary books of any kind. The Boyd Library also accepts donations of archival material related to food and beverage, such as personal or family correspondence, menu collections, recipe cards, photographs, restaurant advertisements, etc. Generous monetary contributions to the SoFAB Research Center and Boyd Library at Nunez Community College, as well as grants fund the operating expenses of the library. Your donations will allot the SoFAB and Nunez teams the resources they need to catalogue, archive, digitize and make accessible the Boyd Library Collection.
Les Dames d'Escoffier International, an international organization of women in the food and hospitality industry, has chosen the SoFAB Research Center as its depository. We have a collection of the books written by, edited by, photographed by and otherwise touched by members through the years.
If you are a member of LDEI, please send us a copy of your book or books, if you haven't done so already so that we can keep this collection up to day.
Hours:
The SoFAB Research Center and Boyd Library is open Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
Please call (504) 569-0405 for more information.
Getting Here:
The SoFAB Research Center and Boyd Library are located in the Nunez Community College Library, 3710 Paris Rd, Chalmette, LA 70043.