Gumbo Tales:
Finding My Place
At The New Orleans Table
By Sara Roahen
About The Book
In New Orleans, history is told through food, people mark time and measure connections with meals eaten, traditions shared. Pain remains from the failed levees, the failed political infrastructure and the failed promises. But New Orleanians have a long and close relationship with pain. They are survivors and they know how to appreciate the sweet, as well as the bitter. Maybe that's why beignets and chicory coffee are so identified with the city.
Gumbo Pot vs. Melting Pot
Sara Roahen's book traces her introduction to the culture of New Orleans, specifically the “food culcha” which is difficult to separate that from the rest of the history. Gumbo as a metaphor for the people of the area is perhaps not a new concept. But Gumbo's ingredients remain distinct while combining to beautiful effect. New Orleans is more than a metaphor; it's a true representation of the mythical idea of America. Cultures, races, new tribes and old, have landed on Louisiana's shores through the port of New Orleans since before the fledgling united states purchased the territory. Spanish, French, Acadians, Caribbean, Sicilians, Vietnamese; explorers, traders, exploiters, slaves, immigrants, and refugees; all have become a part of the fabric here. Roahen does a terrific job of sorting out the most plausible stories or finding the best historical evidence for many of the food traditions. Often she teases this out through local experts of one type or another. She balances all elements together, like, well, you know where this is going.
by W. W. Norton
About the Author
Sara Roahen is a writer and oral historian whose work usually involves food, cooking, memory, and/or place. Not necessarily in that order. Her writing has appeared in Tin House, Chile Pepper, Food & Wine, Wine & Spirits, Gourmet, and Oxford American magazines, as well as Best Food Writing 2003, Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue, and Food and Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast. Her book, Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, was published in 2008 to wide acclaim. Sara was born in Fort Atkinson, WI. She spent a year abroad as a foreign exchange student in The Netherlands before earning a BA in the History of Science and Philosophy from St. John’s College (attending both campuses, in Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM). She did time in several other cities and states, working her way from waitress to barista to line cook, before finally moving to New Orleans for the love of a man. Sara married Mathieu de Schutter in 2000, in no small part because he had brought her to New Orleans. The hurricanes of 2005 shook loose Sara and Matt’s corporeal ties to the city. They resided for a time in Philadelphia, where Matt pursued a medical career and Sara ate tomato pie. On April 20, 2008, they moved back to New Orleans. Just in time for crawfish season and Jazz Fest. Sara serves on the Board of the Southern Foodways Alliance and is an emeritus member of the Ark-Presidia Committee of Slow Food USA.
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