Guest/Crystal: A Home for Fat Tuesday

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Thank you to Crystal, our Guest Contributor!

Happy Mardi Gras! Its origins have something to do with squeezing in as much revelry and indulgence as possible before Lent or Ash Wednesday or something…eh, look it up on Wikipedia.

Of course, the place (in the US) to be on this holiday is N’awlins, home to the new Super Bowl champions (Who dat!), hopping live music…

…and unique neighborhoods and sights, like the supermarket-cum-Mardi Gras warehouse that we frequented or the stalls of clothes, art, and stuffed alligators in the French Market. We saw roving bands, street poets, and CVS stores that sell liquor. Charm and randomness rolled into one fantastic package.

Did I mention the knee-meltingly good food? I had a list of classic New Orleans food that I set out to try during my week there. They were all such great meals that I don’t know which was my favorite – we stuffed ourselves with hush puppies, beignets, red beans and rice, gumbo, chargrilled oysters, and jambalaya. Rabbit jambalaya with sausage and seafood and 500 other things that made for a huge portion of classic New Orleans cuisine that lasted me 3 meals (and I can really eat!).

Even the chain restaurants were amazing. I was introduced to a rave-worthy place called J. Gumbo’s, where you can choose anything on the menu and a drink for $6, regardless of the item. And my, were they tasty. I don’t normally think chicken is very exciting, but I was converted when I tried their Voodoo Chicken and Drunken Chicken – that’s right, I went there twice. It was that good.

It was great to see New Orleans on the mend. It was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, which left thousands homeless. Entire parishes (the New Orleans term for district) were upended, with floodwaters of up to 20 feet inundating many of the low-income areas of the city.  A lot of attention was paid immediately after the disaster, but it is critical to remember that rebuilding a city is a long-term effort.

There are still people living in trailers, renting apartments while paying mortgage on their uninhabitable homes, or living out of state. The St. Bernard Project is working in the St. Bernard parish, which was decimated by Katrina. Funded mainly through donations and primarily staffed by volunteers, the Project is doing fantastic work to restore families to their houses, each one taking about 12 weeks to rebuild, and also offers mental health services to the community.

So on this Fat Tuesday, please consider supporting the efforts to help a family feel the joy of coming back home.

And eat something delicious!

Tags: Ash Wednesday, beignets, Drunken chicken, Fat Tuesday, food, Food Justice, French market, gumbo, Hurricane Katrina, hush puppies, J. Gumbo's, jambalaya, Lent, Louisiana, Mardi Gras, New Orleans, oysters, St. Bernard Parish, St. Bernard Project, travel, Voodoo chicken, Who dat

Category: Featured Articles: Food Politics, Featured Articles: Health & Nutrition, Food Politics, Health & Nutrition, Travel & Culture, US & Canada