Food Yearnings

On Sunday I was reading the home page of the New Orleans Times Picayune and it reminded me how much I miss the food of that city. Well, there's always food talk there, because the city and South Louisiana as a whole is obsessed with eating well. To a New Orleanian, eating well is as simple as like breathing the air outside, given the copious amounts of grand food in the region. I always compare the food mentality in New Orleans to that of Italy or France. In South Louisiana where Cajun Creole food is the mainstay, the locals wake up each morning thinking about what meal they will have next, and never stop thinking about it all throughout the day and night of awakenedness. The dogma is.... I eat: therefore I exist!

Well, today's paper gave a menu of some of the more popular items of food served at about 70 booths this weekend (weekend two of four) of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival. Forget the music for a minute and look at some of the goodies the Times Picayune listed as available this weekend. And you could triple the number of times on the list below to add all the items that are served at the fest.

• Pecan catfish meuniere, seafood mirliton casserole combo
• Spinach artichoke casserole, seafood au gratin, sweet potato pone combo.
• Catfish amandine and potato salad combo
• Mango Freeze (also near Fais Do-Do Stage)
• Cochon de lait po-boy, soft sheel crab po-boy
• Gator with fried jalapenos and onions
• Pheasant, quail and andouille gumbo
• Crab and crawfish stuffed mushrooms
• Crawfish strudel
• White chocolate bread pudding. coconut and choclcate pralines
• Mocha mouse
• Crawfish Monica
• Strawberry shortcake
• Key lime tart
• Gyro, humus with pita and Greek garden salad combo plate
• Crawfish, spinach and zucchini bisque
• Cracklings
• Fried sweet potato chips
• Torroncino
• Dibbi; grilled veggie pita; couscous with yogurt sauce combo plate
• Sweet potato turnover
• Apple turnover
• Trout Baquet
• Bun (or vermicelli salad)
• Spring rolls
• Creole cream cheese cake

I think the food booths are often as crowded as the music stages at the festival, and all of the food above and many more is available every day in New Orleans. Ok, thanks for indulging me in my food yearning flashback.