NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Founder of the National Food and Beverage Foundation, Southern Food & Beverage Museum (SoFAB) and cookbook author Elizabeth Williams will transform The Chicory House, the Garden District’s new neighborhood bistro, into her home kitchen July 28 for a spirited celebration of her new cookbook “Nana’s Creole Italian Table: Recipes and Stories from Sicilian New Orleans.”
Sicilian immigrants―Williams’s family among them―came to New Orleans in droves in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, fleeing the instability of their own country and hoping to make a new home in America. Nana’s Creole Italian Table” shares her traditional family recipes, with variations that reveal the evolution and blending of Sicilian and Creole cuisines. Baked into every recipe is the history of Sicilian American culture as it has changed over the centuries, allowing each new generation to incorporate its own foodways and ever-evolving tastes.
From meatball po’boys to Creole red gravy, the influence of Sicilian foodways permeates New Orleans, one of America’s greatest food cities. “Nana’s Creole Italian Table” tells the story of those immigrants and their communities through the lens of food, exploring the ways traditional Sicilian dishes such as pasta and olive salad became a part of―and were in turn changed by―the existing food culture in New Orleans.
The event will begin at 6:00 PM with a reception featuring bites and refreshments from Williams’ cookbook, including Meatballs in red gravy, Pasta con Broccoli e Alici, dessert and refreshing sparkling Limoncello. Williams will be in conversation with local personality, and fellow Sicilian-New Orleanian, Larry “Ragusa” Beron. The two will have a lively discussion about the cookbook, the history of Silcians in New Orleans and their impact on the local cuisine.
Entrance to the event requires purchase of a ticket through Eventbrite. Single tickets are available for $50 ($30 book retail value, food and beverage, and Eventbrite fees.) Couples tickets are also available for $70 and include entrance for two and one copy of the cookbook. Guests can also purchase a “plus one” ticket ($20) to add to their single or couples ticket that will get their “plus one” entry and access to the food and beverage.
For more information, visit us at www.gardendistrictbookshop.com.
All citywide-mandated COVID safety protocols will be in place.
