When you grow up in New Orleans, in Louisiana really, it’s almost like you grow up in a bubble. The way of life here can be so different than anywhere else that when you eventually leave the safe space surrounded by gumbo and “how’s ya mama and dem?” the difference can be jarring.
While I was way too old (12) before I found out Mardi Gras wasn’t celebrated everywhere in the country, finding out something as simple as finger sandwiches not being a regular concept experienced by others was not on my bingo card at almost 35 years old.
But a social media post from a friend of mine who lives in the Midwest threw me for a loop.
She shared that while teaching, an explanation for the word “hors d’oeuvres” was needed for her students. She started listing things like meatballs, finger sandwiches, etc. and her students had zero idea what she meant. When she went to search it auto-corrected to “tea sandwiches.” This prompted a survey of her fellow teachers and the Midwestern friends she had made and to her surprise only her colleague from Kentucky knew what she meant.
“I then told my friend, Jenny, who is also living in the Midwest and from New Orleans, and she was surprised, too,” she shared when I inquired for more information. “We realized we never see them at parties because people do not eat them here. It is not apart of food culture, at all. When I made them for a book club here, my husband insisted that I put cheese on them. Obviously, I didn’t.”
While obviously the concept of a sandwich is not something we gatekeep here in New Orleans – though arguably we do the art of the sandwich better than most – leave it to us to take something that stems from a classy British tea service and turn it into such a part of our celebrations from baby showers to graduations that Rouse’s has reported years of selling over 8 million of them.
While The Windsor Court hosts a beautiful tea service in their salon that makes you feel like you are in Victorian Era England – where and when the concept of a tea sandwich is said to have originated – the finger sandwich we know and love in the Big Easy stands on much less ceremony. Typically, they are a variety of deli meats like turkey, ham and roast beef, sometimes with a condiment and sometimes without, and definitely no cheese all cut into a nice triangle on white or wheat bread.
Some local restaurants and stores might throw in some egg or chicken salad into the mix, while others might change the bread to a poboy-style French bread. But once you start getting too fancy, in my opinion, you’ve lost the plot.
While I tried to research the notion that this is only a Southern thing, my findings were limited. But whether or not the party food is enjoyed outside of the city, like most things, New Orleans just does it better.
So, when you’re out on the route this weekend, grabbing your 15th finger sandwich, appreciate the fact that you live in New Orleans.
