Thoughts on New Orleans and our Coast

Recent thoughts on a ravaged countryside.

    There is nothing quite like the calm after a storm. The clouds remain. There may be some light rainfall, giving that calming patter of raindrops across the foliage. The wind still blows, cooling the body and soul. This may seem a metaphor for what is to come, but it is how I feel at this moment.

     I’ve spent the evening under the menace of multiple tornado sightings. The thunder and lightning have frightened the children to the point that they lay sleeping on the couch where at the very least I, there soon to be step-father, is in close proximity. The rain has pelted against the house with gusto. The wind has howled it’s fury. I have spent the evening watching the dubious genre of travel cooking shows. I am a chef after all and food is life. I must say that the shows I have watched this evening have hit me hard as both focused on the Gulf Coast. A cosmos of all that is good in the culinary world if ever there was any.

      I started the evening watching an episode of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. I pray that he will forgive this reference due to the impact that the show had on me. He toured New Orleans, two years later. I’m sure I don’t have to spell it out, but just in case, I’m talking two years after Hurricane Katrina. I suppose I should clarify that I have never set foot in the Crescent City, nor into Louisiana to my memory. Yet I have always felt a kinship to New Orleans. The passion for food and life that continues to thrive in that most decimated of all American cities exemplifies all I believe in. Not just as a chef, but as a person.

     It’s true that I started writing before I became a chef. It’s also true that cooking has been my life. I have exuded control over my own existence by providing the best fuel I could to the human condition. I see myself as a mediocre writer that can work his true art with oil and flame. Just seeing the people who would not give up in the face of such hardship, the people who rebuilt their restaurants so that those who came to help could eat alongside those who suffered, has renewed my faith in what truly matters. I am part of Chefs for Humanity and I still wish I could do more.

      The heart of America was torn out when the hurricane hit. Not just New Orleans, but the entire Gulf Coast. We still have our commerce, and our values true. The thing we are missing, especially since our darkest day of 9/11, is our soul. The city of New Orleans exemplified the best part of being an American. Hospitality, Generosity, just plain down home values. Yes it was a party city, but what is life without a little excess, a little fun?

      After writing this I see that the second program I watched was merely a reinforcement of the first. For the record it was a show called Bizarre foods and it focused on the gulf coast. The show focused on foods that were traditional to the Gulf Coast even if they were odd to the rest of the country. It didn’t say much about life after the hurricane but it did show the pride that our brethren in the region had for their way of life and their foods. Which brings me back to the fact that we have a lot of heritage in that region. We shouldn’t look the other way and let it die.

     My people, the chefs, the cooks, the people that provide for their families, are still there in the war torn regions of the Gulf Coast. Most that remain didn’t think of themselves, they thought of helping others. They thought of bringing back the culture and the welfare of the area. We may be outsiders in normal society, but we still care about those around us. If it helps, we write with our food and would love for you to read into and support a city that most have given up on.

Reviews

[Genie]

Oh James, this is grand on so many levels. Thank you so much for writing it, for sharing it, for reminding us of what's important in life and culture and heritage.

Tho I'm a native of NOLA, I don't know it nearly well enough. We left when I was 18 months old, and I never got back until my 45th birthday, and that for only a couple of days. But it was just before Carnival, and I felt like I'd never left!

You're absolutely right -- even those few months almost before remembrance left a significant imprint on me and I've always wanted to go back. During and after Katrina I was in turmoil: I wanted so badly to go back to help and just couldn't. But your efforts and your caring assure me that others are going there in my place, at least in heart and soul. I have to believe that counts for something.

Bless you for this!

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It will be Bush's--and therefore ours in the eyes of the world--legacy. Letting a city drown. Probably one of the most brutal acts of both racism and classism seen in the world to date.

Thanks for this piece; it was thought-provoking.

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It will be Bush's--and therefore ours in the eyes of the world--legacy. Letting a city drown. Probably one of the most brutal acts of both racism and classism seen in the world to date.

Thanks for this piece; it was thought-provoking.

[desertraven]

I have just re-read this piece and I stand by my first impression. Thank you and God Bless!
Sandi

[Jinx]

Beautiful write, James, on the wonder and mystery of New Orleans and its people and their unique way of life. We should all look to them for inspiration.

[desertraven]

James. that was a fantastic piece! Very passionate and well penned. Your depiction of the people and lifestyle is right on. Having lived there for 20 years, I can say this is a piece to be proud of. Thank you for sharing.
Sandra:)