Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table
by Sara Roahen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sara RoahenEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-04
ISBN: 0393061671
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Book Reviews of Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table
Book Review: An excellent foodie tribute to one of the best cities for eating!
Summary: 5 Stars
Like the author, Sara, I was also a non-native who had moved to New Orleans for my first ten years out of college, from 1987 to 1996. Even after I moved from New Orleans in 1996, I had never thought of reading books about New Orleans (not counting New Orleans and Cajun cookbooks, of course) until now, three years after Hurricane Katrina. I have not yet been back to New Orleans since Katrina, but I am planning a trip there next year.
Two of the main aspects of New Orleans that I love so much is its food and music. It was my countless memories of New Orleans food that prompted me to read this book, and I was definitely not disappointed. Sara's descriptions of the food and dining in New Orleans are accurate, well-researched, evocative, and, as the Brits say, spot on. She writes with the informed knowledge of her background as a food writer and restaurant reviewer, but also with the fresh perspective of a non-native Midwesterner, and she paints a vivid picture of the passionate food culture in New Orleans, a culture that I was once an active part of (Emeril Lagasse once stopped by our table to chat during the first week that his Emeril's restaurant opened in 1990). Like a great Zatarain's seasoning mix, she accents all of the food lore with snippets of New Orleans culture, people, humor, and just the right touch of discussions of the city before and after Katrina (she lived in Philadelphia for awhile before moving back to New Orleans in April of this year).
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in food, or is interested in or planning a trip to New Orleans. My only quibble with this book was that I wanted more chapters or another book of hers to continue reading after I had finished this book; there are still plenty of New Orleans food topics to write chapters on. After I finished reading this book, instead of placing it amidst all of my other many non-fiction books, I placed with my row of cookbooks in the pantry; although this is not a cookbook, it just belongs there with my cookbooks!
Also... Sara has a Web site where she has posted various "Photo Companion to Gumbo Tales" photos that are grouped and named like the chapters in her book: www.sararoahen.com\Sara_Roahen\Gumbo_Tales_Photos\Gumbo_Tales_Photos.html
Summary of Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table
Celebrating New Orleans' food culture, one specialty at a time.A cocktail is more than a segue to dinner when it's a Sazerac, an anise-laced drink of rye whiskey and bitters indigenous to New Orleans. For Wisconsin native Sara Roahen, a Sazerac is also a fine accompaniment to raw oysters, a looking glass into the cocktail culture of her own family?and one more way to gain a foothold in her beloved adopted city.
Roahen's stories of personal discovery introduce readers to New Orleans' well-known signatures?gumbo, po-boys, red beans and rice?and its lesser-known gems: the pho of its Vietnamese immigrants, the braciolone of its Sicilians, and the ya-ka-mein of its street culture. By eating and cooking her way through a place as unique and unexpected as its infamous turducken, Roahen finds a home. And then Katrina. With humor, poignancy, and hope, she conjures up a city that reveled in its food traditions before the storm?and in many ways has been saved by them since.
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