IACP Conference 2008 - My Thoughts So Far

  Cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

Good morning from beautiful New Orleans! I first must confess that I am cheating. That beautiful mug of coffee you see to your right is from my trip last year. I DID indeed have some Cafe Du Monde coffee yesterday, but today I walked over to Starbucks. I needed the ability to order a triple, and I also needed to give my heavily blistered feet a break. I walked so much yesterday.

I'm here for the annual conference of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and I'm having a great time. I'm going to save my restaurant roundup for a later post (Cochon, Bourbon House, Herbsaint, Willie Mae's and possibly Coop's Place), but I want to share some of the thoughts I've had as I've sat in sessions here.

It's always amazing to me to get tears in my eyes at a conference. I don't THINK I'm that sappy. But, bring up Jessica Harris, add some beautiful music composed of the sounds of the city (the vegetable man, chopping, street music), throw in some sentimental statements ("A town in which friends become family.") and the tears start coming!

Some other things I've loved:

Nick Spitzer from NPR's American Routes was part of the first general session of the conference. He did a wonderful job explaining the heritage of New Orleans. In his mind, you have the intangible on one end (music and clubs) and the tangible on the other end (the architecture). In the middle is the food. He said that you can tell the difference because the tangible has a water line on it! This thinking can explain why the music and food are more important than ever in New Orleans! The music was the first thing to really come back, because people could gather and play music without needing the tangible. The food came next, and continues to come, as the restaurants get restored or rebuilt.

I also enjoyed hearing from JoAnn Clevenger, who is the owner and general manager of the Upperline Restaurant. She described coming back to her restaurant after Katrina and being hit by an overwhelming and horrible odor that wouldn't even let her get through the door. The spoilage was that intense. She explained how difficult the journey to rebuild her restaurant was, but that she had to do it. She had to get her restaurant back open. Some quotes from her:

"The meaning of restaurant is restorative."
"That's how you do it. One small person at a time."
"There were no supermarkets in Orleans parish.... No churches. No schools. No places to get gas. People came to the restaurant crying and hugging.... We even hugged the mailman!"
"You want to physically touch each other. Not just hello. Because the hurricane took away the physical."

My tears started flowing again yesterday morning when Nick Spitzer played Tipitina. I have SOO much more to say, but I'll leave you with that song while I run back to learn more. Back later!!

Comments

[Crisanne]

I always loved watching Jessica Harris when she would guest star on Cooking Live. So full of knowlege, but with the experience to back it up.

[Sarah B.]

Your mention of Cafe Dumonde brought back so many memories for me! My husband and I went to New Orleans for our honeymoon, 6 years ago this month. Cafe Dumonde was sensational and I have a picture of my husband, his faced covered in powdered sugar. We even ordered beignets from room service at our hotel while there and there was simply NO comparison!!