Hungry in the South
New Orleans’ Southern Food and Beverage Museum presents a a weekend of foodie films, parties, a cookbook fair & more.
by Kayla Smith
There’s no better place for food lovers to be than New Orleans this weekend. The city’s Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) is holding its fourth annual Hungry in the South Weekend starting tomorrow through Sunday, September 16.
The festivities begin with the museum’s first-ever food-focused film festival, which kicks off with the Gulf Coast premiere of “Shell Shocked: Saving Oysters to Save Ourselves” tomorrow night. Instead of popcorn, viewers can snack on grilled oysters from Oceana Grill.
On Friday night, a Hard Hat Gala will showcase the new (and still in progress) home of the museum, scheduled to open in 2013. Guests can look forward to a preview of the new building and opening of an exhibit called “States of Taste,” musical entertainment and dishes from some of New Orleans’ best restaurants, along with cocktails from Herbsaint and Sazerac. An after party will feature a showing of “The Man Who Ate New Orleans,” a documentary about a man who set out to eat a meal at every restaurant in the city.
A symposium will be held on Saturday with the theme “Science and Technology: Past, Present, and Future.” “We’ll be talking a lot about the ways that science and technology have managed the way we produce, eat and discuss food, where that’s going, and what we’re all doing about it,” says Kelsey Parris, SoFAB’s operations manager. Topics include genetically modified seeds and the history of the hot dog.
Steve Bryant, the brains behind Subway’s Jared commercials, will be giving the Contemporary Issues in Southern Food and Beverages Lecture and discussing “The Nexus of Food And Social Media.” The symposium will be followed by a rooftop screening of the film “Big Night” at Rouses Market Downtown.
The weekend closes out with the first French Market Cookbook Fair on Sunday. Attendees can meet well-known authors and chefs, like Susan Spicer and Janice Macomber, get their books signed and see cooking demonstrations. “Cookbooks are a very important part of SoFAB’s mission, representing the history of the foodways and beverage culture of their time and place,” says Parris. A cookbook swap, used cookbook sale and drop-off site for cookbook donations will also take place to benefit the brand new Culinary Library that will open in partnership with the New Orleans Public Library in January.
Hungry in the South events span from September 13-16. The film festival kicks off on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center. Click here for tickets and prices. The Hard Hat Gala will be held on Friday from 7-10 p.m. at 1504 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. Tickets are $75. The after party will be held at Zeitgeist. Saturday’s symposium will run from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. at the current museum, with a ticket price of $75 that includes lunch at Root. The lecture starts at 5:30 p.m. and is free and open to anyone who brings a can of food to donate to victims of Hurricane Isaac. Sunday’s Cookbook Fair is free and open to the public from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at The French Market. Visit www.southernfood.org, e-mail [email protected] or call 504-569-0405 for more info.
