Fragile History

FragileHistory
TheSowtbrn Foodan^vs
Alliance's oral histories
remindusbowfragileowrfo odtradi;tion
scan be.
G
,E
" P e o p lleo o ka t t h i st h i n ga n dg e ta l lg a g a , "
"andit'sjusta
he saysin the oralhistory,
Cajunspicerumfromthe OldNewOrleans : o
\x
Rumdistillery.
iB
b u s i n e sl s' m
, o u tt h e r ed o i n gw h a tI d o ,t r y i n g
Sinceopeningafterthe storm,the New
r o
t o m a k ea l i v i n g . "
O r l e a nl cs eC r e a mC o m p a nhya sg r a b b e d
rB_
It'shardto imagine
not beingableto cool
a growingshareof localrcecreamsales.
IE
off with a scoopof Brocato's
At the moment,DugasandSimpson
:'p
chestnut
or
arein
:.E
z u p p ai n g l e sgee l a t oj u, s ta sN e wO r l e a n i a n s talkswith a national
distributor.
lf things
.h
havebeendoingfor a century.
Except,
they
workout,thislocalicecreamstart-up
could , . 4
haven't.
Before
AngeloBrocato
movedfrom
become
a national
contender
overnight.
Inthe i o
the French
Avenue
meantime,
stopby theirbooththismonthat : oo
0uarterto Carrollton
i n 1 9 7 9t,h e ys e r v eodn l yl t a l i a rnc e a
s nd
Voodoofor a scoop.
Y
icecream,likespumoni
slrced
andcassata.
ArthurBrocato
introduced
the dippedgelato. OTHER NEWS
' o
Reading
theseoralhistories,
I alsorealize
that
ChefJohnBesh(Restaurant
August,Luke)
ourtraditions
aren'tstatic.Newfoodsare
t a k e su p h i sf i r s tc h a l l e n goen O c t .7 i n h i s
questto lointhe castof the FoodNetwork's 3
created.
Newrestaurants
openandbecome
places lron ChefAmedca.Thenew seriesTheNext . Uo
institutions.
Andevenif somebeloved
eventually
close,
NewOrleans'
foodcultureis
lronChefpilseightaccomplished
chefsf rom
E
strongenoughto createnewtraditions.
around
t h ec o u n t riyn a c u l i n a reyl i m i n a t i o n
c h a l l e n g e . . . . Sh
ua
c rsa6d d e ds a n d w i c haensd c
o
W E A L L S H O U T F O RS O R B E T
soupsfor lunch....Ihe
WallStreet
Journal
T
T h eN e wO r l e a nl cs eC r e a mC o m p a n y
n a m e dD i c k i B
e r e n n a nS' st e a k h o uosneeo f
knewthe highstandard
it hadto meetwhen
t h en a t i o n '"sp o w e tra b l e s" ... . F r e n c h m a n =o
it created
the now-infamous
Chocolate
City
ReneBajeaux,
who ranReneBistrot
before
o
flavor."Wewanteda productthatwasthe
the storm,isnowthe executive
chefat La
bestchocolate
that mygrandson
hadever
P r o v e n c e . . . . B yMbel odsi t e r r a n eCauni s i n e
tasted,"saysco-founder
AlanDugas.
Early
o
openeda newoutletin Tulane
s student
attempts
at otherflavors
werepassed
around c e n t e r . . . . T aOb nl eeh a sc l o s e d .
F i n nM c C o o ll'rsi s hp u bi n M i d - C i ttyo g e tt h e
3
E
r e g u l a rosp' i n i o n lsn. N e wO r l e a nas ,r o o mf u l l A n g e l oB r o c a t o
2 :1 4N .C a r r o l l t oAnv e .4, 8 6 - o
E
of drinkers
is probably
the besttestmarket
0078
o
y o uc o u l df i n d .
B y b l oM
s e d i t e r r a n eCauni s i n e
T:u l a nLea v i n r d r i a nS i m p s o n
D u g a sa n d h i sp a r t n e A
Bernick
are
Centerfor University
Life,McAllister
o
about to releasefive sorbets.Liketheir original
Drive
c
G
ice creams,eachone is inspiredby a flavorwe
D o m i l i s ePso - B o y5s2: 4 0A n n u n c i a t i S
o nt . ,
"We
savorin New Orleans.
havethis whole
899-9126
\V[##ll;iril:i',#ii:f
closedand therewere no ices,no gelatoand
no fig cookieson CarrolltonAvenue.Fifteenor
20 yearsfrom now, it could closeforeverafter
a centuryof makingsweets.Arthur Brocatowill
somedayretire,and the youngerBrocatos
have
other careers,other interests.
After readingthe oral historieswith 13
localchefs,restaurateurs
and businesspeople
that food writer SaraRoahenrecordedfor the
SouthernFoodwaysAlliance,I realizedthat
manyof New Orleansoldestinstitutions,
like
Angelo Brocato's,
are fragile.The interview
subjects,rangingfrom the RomanCandy
M a n a n d A s h l e yH a n s e nt o D o t D o m i l i s e
a n d A n t h o n ya n d G a i lU g l e s i c hw, e r e n a m e d
TabascoGuardiansof the Traditionsin
2005. Transcripts
and recordings
of the oral
historieswere postedoverthe summer.Lolis
EricElie,the Iimes Picayunecolumnistand a
founding memberof the SouthernFoodways
Alliance,led the effort to honor peopletoo
often overlookedby glossyfood magazines.
"Certainly
i t ' sa n i n c o m p l e t lei s t , "h e s a y s ,
"but
it'sa realreflectionof the depth and
v a r i e t yo f o u r p e o p l ea n d o u r f o o d . "
How many placeson that list,suchas
Angelo Brocato's,
might not be aroundfor the
next generation?lt'sa gift to the city when
someonesuchas AshleyHansendecidesto
carryon a traditionand keepa placelike
H a n s e n 'Ss n o - B l iazl i v e b
, u t w h o c a nb l a m e
Arthur Brocato's
kids,or Anthonyand Gail
U g l e s i c hk' si d s ,f o r w a n t i n gt o d o s o m e t h i n g
else?How manyof us would want to take
over our parents'jobs?And we can't expect
them to do it for charity.Ron Kottemann
w o u l d n ' th a v et a k e no v e rt h e R o m a nC a n d y
c a r ti n 1 9 7 1i f s e l l i n gt a f f yd i d n ' t p a yt h e b i l l s .
46
2oo7
tV ocroBER
f
m e n ui n t h e c i t yh e l p i n gu s , " S i m p s o n
says.
Keepan eye out at localstoresIor jazz mango,
R u s t o np e a c h c, a n t a l o u p ec,h a m p a g n a
en d
Louisiana
lime sorbets.The sorbetswill soon
b e j o i n e db y C a j u nr u m r a i s i nm a d ew i t h t h e
'1
La Provence25020 Highway 90, Lacombe,
(9Bs)626-7662
L u k e3: 3 3S t C h a r l eAsv e .3, 7 8 - 2 8 4 0
A u g u s t3: 0 1T c h o u p i t o uSl at .s,2 9 9 - 9 7 7 7
'1
S u c r e3:0 2 5M a g a z i nSet . ,5 2 0 - 8 3 1
By Todd A. Price
OFFBEAT
NEW!
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