How you are? Com’on in now… laissez le bon temps rouler!
(A Cajun welcome. How are you, come in – let the good time roll.)
This issue of ARTS&FOOD® Magazine is all about New Orleans, Louisiana, one of the most interesting and unique places in the United States of America. The Crescent City (so named because the original city was built within a crescent-shaped bend of the Mississippi River) is also one of the oldest ports in the US. NOLA’s history goes back to when the original European explorers started coming to the New World to build settlements.
FOOD: New Orleans, has created its own culture, called Creole, and has created a local cuisine that’s unique in the world. The New Orleans Creole cuisine was formed from a mixture of Spanish, French, African, Native American and English cultural influences combined with the local crops available, most notably rice, sugarcane, tomatoes, strawberries, okra, hot peppers, onions, green peppers, celery and seafood, and combined with the spices each society brought to America from their homeland.
We will sample the Okra Gumbo, Jambalaya, Turtle Soup, Oysters, Étoufée, Bread Pudding, Coffee with Chickory, Beignets and much more in the articles of this issue. The restaurants in New Orleans rank among the most famous in the world and few people who have eaten a great meal in New Orleans ever forget the food here is served with style and representing a personality unique to New Orleans.
ARTS:
Click on black video space for Music Sample
MUSIC – New Orleans has a long history of great Dixieland Jazz, Gospel music, Mississippi Blues, etc. with some form of music pouring out of the open doorways and clubs and at many French Quarter street intersections, plus N.O. hosts the huge, world-famous Jazz & Heritage Festival, which happens each year around May 1st.
ART – Visual artists have always been attracted to the bohemian lifestyle that New Orleans and especially the French Quarter offers. Today there are several new museums in New Orleans with very fine contemporary and progressive art exhibitions – including, the New Orleans Contemporary Art Center, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, along with the New Orleans Museum of Art’s new emphasis on contemporary art, along with their encyclopedic collection of art and decoration from around the world.
FESTIVALS – New Orleans ranks as one of America’s most colorful cities with many festivals during the year and it hosts an official Louisiana State Holiday only celebrated in Southern Louisiana… Mardi Gras! (French for FAT TUESDAY because the celebration is full of over the top indulgences, ending the Tuesday before “Lent”, the weeks where Christians give up selected indulgences until Easter.)
Until later,
Jack Atkinson
Founder, Editor & Publisher of ARTSandFOOD.com®
Contact Email: < info@ARTSandFOOD.com >
PS: My father went to college at Tulane University, loved New Orleans and drank stronger coffee daily than you can find in NOLA. He enjoyed Justin Wilson who was a cajun comedian and cook. I am sharing his video here. The Cajun accent is real, it’s how many Cajuns sound as they talk – in the many small towns surrounding Lafayette, Louisiana.
