Foodways
Elmer Candy Company
Elmer Candy Company, the oldest family-owned chocolate company in the United States, is known for its trio of egg-shaped chocolate confections as well as originating the line of CheeWees savory snacks.
Foodways
Foodways Index
Business & Industry
Freeman & Harris Café
Freeman & Harris Café was a Black-owned restaurant that served as a pillar of Black social, cultural, and political life in Shreveport.
Foodways
Gumbo
Gumbo is a thick soup that could be considered the signature dish of South Louisiana.
Foodways
Jambalaya
A rice-based mixture of meats and/or seafood along with vegetables, herbs, and spices, jambalaya is a representative dish of South Louisiana.
Foodways
King Cake
A round, braided cake consumed during the Carnival season across Louisiana, especially in New Orleans.
Foodways
Lucky Dogs
The wiener-shaped Lucky Dog hot dog pushcarts in New Orleans’s French Quarter were the inspiration for the fictional Paradise Vendors in John Kennedy Toole's novel “A Confederacy of Dunces.”
Foodways
Muffuletta Sandwich
The muffuletta–a mammoth sandwich of round sesame bread layered with Genoa salami, ham, mortadella, cheese, and olive salad–is a signature dish of New Orleans.
Foodways
Natchitoches Meat Pies
Natchitoches’s savory hand pies are filled with a mixture of ground pork and beef in a seasoned gravy.
Foodways
Okra
Although okra is consumed throughout the South, it is predominantly associated with South Louisiana, where it is used as a thickener for gumbo.
Business & Industry
Paul Prudhomme
An unofficial cultural ambassador for Louisiana beginning in the 1970s, Paul Prudhomme was a Cajun chef, restauranteur, author, television star, and entrepreneur.
Foodways
Po-Boy Sandwich
The so-called poor boy (po-boy) sandwich originated from the Martin Brothers' French Market Restaurant and Coffee Stand in New Orleans during the 1929 streetcar strike.
Foodways
Pralines
The praline, a confection made of sugar and nuts, is a representative dish of the Franco- and Afro-Creole Atlantic diasporas.
