Art & Identity in New Orleans

HNRS 109 Spring '18

Cuisine, Culture, and Katrina

For my research, I would like to look at how the intersections of cultures shaped cuisine in New Orleans. I would also like to explore the revamping of post-Katrina New Orleans through the reopening of restaurants. Some of the questions I will be answering are: how has cuisine become part of the social culture in New Orleans? What cultures shaped the famous dishes that Americans think of when talking about New Orleans? And how did chefs handle the changes that came after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina? This research is relevant due to the shift in conversation that has happened when discussing New Orleans. Many Americans connect the city to the images that they saw after Hurricane Katrina. They have stopped talking about the rich cultures that fill the city. It is relevant within this course because food is part of the identity in New Orleans, it is familial and social, so developing a deeper understanding of the culture of food will allow students to see the connections between identity and culture.

Comments are closed.