Paper Palate

In last week’s Chicago Sun Times, reporter Dave Hoekstra explored the culinary impact Hurricane Katrina has had on the Gulf Coast Region. Aside from the obvious physical damage to the restaurant industry caused by the severe destruction of the hurricane, thousands and thousands of evacuees and survivors were relocated throughout the country. And although restaurant restoration within the region has begun, so many of those relocated can never return to their former lives. For so many, there is simply nothing left to return to. So many escaped only with whatever clothes they were wearing; they have no homes or jobs to return to, and have been separated from family, friends, and culture — displaced among so much grief and hardship. As they struggle to rebuild lives in other cities, a sense of lost cultural identity is reinforced by the lack of available regional foods that were so much a part of their former lives. In their new lives, comfort foods that have always sustained and nourished body and soul are not so easily found in the restaurants of the various relocation cities. To preserve their culinary heritage, regional dishes are being recreated in different kitchens, in different homes or different shelters. To remember “home” in happier times; to find comfort in familiar foods; to gain strength for coping with personal tragedy and to process horrific memories from the devastating hurricane. Attempts to find normalcy and order by finding comfort in food.

As efforts to rebuild the region continue, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans, along with the Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford, Mississippi, created Gulf Coast Foodways Renaissance Project. The project is comprised of collected oral history from victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To further raise awareness for culinary and cultural heritage preservation, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum recently opened an exhibit entitled “Restaurant/Restorative.” The exhibit illustrates the strong cultural influence of local food in the city of New Orleans and includes photographs and documents, reflecting the restoration of various restaurants within the city. It is a comforting celebration of food. In addition to the “Restaurant/Restorative” exhibit, the museum also developed the “Menu Project,” which features thousands of regional restaurant menus from past and present to reflect the various changes within historic restaurants that are reopening since the hurricanes, and also to document the menus of those ones that are newly opened.

The museum board president, Liz Williams, explains how important regional food is for providing emotional comfort and reinforcing cultural identity:

“People always talk about food as comfort…And food is definitely comfort. And identity. If all of that is taken away from you, especially in a city like New Orleans that defines itself by its food, you’ve taken away somebody’s culture. It’s not just, ‘I don’t have my favorite red shoes, but I have another pair of shoes now.’ This is something you’re reminded of every time you sit down at the table. You might find a lot of components to your gumbo, but you might not be able to find file. It’s a loss that’s only understood by other people who have lost it.”

Stressing the strength and resilience of the people of New Orleans, she added:

“There’s a concern that the little restaurants aren’t going to reopen so New Orleans is only going to have the return of white tablecloth restaurants…But New Orleans has been destroyed twice by fire and there have been other floods. These restaurants always come back. And they will come back again. They may not be the exact same ones, but they are part of our cultural identity.”

As the return of regional cuisine provides definite strength to rebuild the city, there is comfort and hope for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.