SOFAB appropriately is closed today, Fat Tuesday, to honor Southern food, drink, dance, and excess--and we hope y'alls are doing the same today--but otherwise this museum dedicated to:
"...the discovery, understanding and celebration of the food, drink and the related culture of the South, " is open, daily, at Riverwalk Marketplace in New Orleans. Its focus:
---The many ethnicities – African-American and Caribbean, French and German, etc. — that have combined to create unique Southern food and drink traditions;
---The farmers, fishermen, and hunters and gatherers who have produced the food;
---The processors, inventors, chefs and business people who run the restaurants and stock our stores with Southern products, and the home cooks and families who have passed down recipes and food traditions for generations.
Liz Williams, the prime mover behind SOFAB, told us that a few years ago she just decided to open the project, still not well-funded, or prepared, but they had scored a deal on the retail space, and Liz felt they should just plunge ahead. The result is a mix--some exhibits utterly professional, some frayed around the edges, all of interest to any foodish person. Liz, a lawyer with a specialty in food-related issues, is well aware of the limitations, of the gap between the vision and what is possible to achieve given limited resources and staff. But she and her colleagues and volunteers have done it--started a major food museum in the U.S. Bravo!
Another New Orleans favorite to anyone with an interest in booze has its home at SOFAB: the Museum of the American Cocktail. The New Orleans "Sazerac" identified with the city is rye whiskey based.
Current large temporary exhibit: All About Sugar. (Thank you, Domino Brands.)
(Above right: the Katrina Deli exhibit, with Heckuva Job Brownies down front. Levee Leak Soup is also on the menu... )
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