FoodMusicJustice.com

A lot of things jumped out at me at the alternative arts show in New Orleans earlier this year, but one thing that really grabbed me was a booth by the Goodchildren Carnival Club.

“We’re starting a new parade (really?) and it’s going to go along St. Claude on Easter (wow!)” The name Goodchildren comes from an old New Orleans street name.

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T’aint exactly news, but the Camellia Grill which was closed for 20 months after the federal levee failures (don’t call it “Kartrina”), reopened for business on April 20th.

What is the Camellia Grill? An Uptown neighborhood favorite. Great breakfasts, great sandwiches, late hours.

The owners threw in the towel after the levee failures even though the building was not damaged. A customer campaign, by Post-It notes, encouraged new owners to step in and re-open.

Here’s a sweet, home-made video that tells the story beautifully:

Every city, town and village could use a site like Shop Local.

Shop local. Support local business owners. Keep your money in town.

When you buy from the big chains, you’re literally helping Big Business impoverish your community. Profits go back to headquarters - usually not your city, your state and sometimes not even your country.

Does that make sense?

Here’s a local New Orleans initiative called Stay Local.

I shot this off New Orleans public access on my trip to the city.

There are tons of interesting programs about the current state of New Orleans available on this channel.

It would be a good idea for New Orleanians to make an Internet version of the best of these programs available to the world via the Internet. All that’s needed is to encode them an upload them to YouTube and/or Google Video.

Here’s a short presentation on how insurance industry policies are complicating the rebuilding process.

Another view of the problem:

Tom Fitzmoris is keeping track of all the restaurants that have re-openned in the city since the levee failures. It’s a superb resource listing restaurants by neighborhood with ratings.

The site is called, appropriately enough, the New Orleans Menu Restaurant Index.

New Orleans has one of the strongest culinary traditions in the US, if not the entire world.

New Orleans restaurants were among the first businesses in the city to re-open their doors after the levee failures. In fact, some scarcely closed as chefs and kitchen staffs labored around the clock to provide food to rescue workers and first responders.

How can you help New Orleans right now?

Amazingly, it can be as simple as coming to town and eating like a king (or queen.) How hard is that?

This short documentary was originally presented at the 2006 James Beard Awards in New York City as a tribute to New Orleans chefs who were collectively recognized for their collective efforts.

The Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans has not had a supermarket for over thirty years.

After the levee failures which devastated the neighborhood, Greta Gladney of the Renaissance Project moved forward and actualized a project that she’d been working on for three years: bringing a farmer’s market to this underserved neighboorhood.

This video by Documentary New Orleans DocNO.org features interviews with Gladney, customers of the new farmer’s market, and suppliers. Leanora Tisdale of the Downtown Neighborhood Consortium is the Farmers Market manager.

I’ve lived in New York City and San Francisco. I’ve eaten in Paris (and Lyon where people in Paris go when they want good food.)

To me, none of these places can hold a candle to New Orleans.

The secret is in the kitchen with talent money can’t buy.

Here’s just one example of New Orleans master chefs: Willie Mae Seaton of Willie Mae’s Scotch House.

The Southern Foodways Alliance is working to put Willie Mae’s Scotch House back in operation. Visit their web site to see how you can help.