Gumbo Tales – Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table - Softcover

Roahen, Sara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393335372 ISBN 13: 9780393335378

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

[This] deeply informed and plainly heartfelt investigation into New Orleans finest food traditions taps into a cornucopia of cultural riches. "

An endearing collection of stories from the seven years [Sara Roahen] spent in the Crescent City, learning to embrace its unapologetically decadent cuisine. It is part culinary history, part memoir and part homage to places that have since been erased. "

Informative, engaging and amusing . . . Gumbo Tales has the not-surprising effect of leaving the reader s mouth watering. --Jonathan Yardley"

This is the book to lead you, rejoicing, to your favorite restaurant, or fire up that kitchen stove to make a batch of gumbo for your mama n dem. This book is a joy to read, a pleasure to pass along, a book to treasure. It leaves you hungry in your body, satisfied in your soul. "

About the Author:

Sara Roahen's work has appeared in Tin House, Oxford American, and Food & Wine magazines. She and her husband moved back to New Orleans in 2008.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0393335372
• ISBN 13: 9780393335378
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304