Southern Food and Beverage Museum

           New Orleans has long been a center of culinary creativity in the United States, merging the city’s diverse ethnic and culinary traditions into a cohesive whole.  The city has also been at the forefront of preserving the history of food in the United States.  The Southern Food and Beverage Museum, founded in 2004, seeks to explore the culinary history of the American South, including the origins of Southern food and drinks.  

            The museum’s first exhibit opened in June 2004, at a temporary location, about the history of New Orleans beverages. Later exhibits included an examination of the revival of the New Orleans restaurant scene following Hurricane Katrina. Thanks to the museum’s growing popularity, they found a permanent home at the Riverwalk Marketplace in June 2008. Six years later, in September 2014, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum opened its doors in Central City. The permanent home includes Toups South, a restaurant run by local chef Isaac Toups, an archival research center, and an events space. 

Inside the Food and Beverage Museum 

            The current exhibits include: 

The Leah Chase Louisiana Gallery: Named after the restaurant legend who died last week, the exhibit focuses on the food and traditions of Louisiana including beignets, crawfish, jambalaya, and Cajun and Creole cuisine. The Museum is currently pushing for the city of New Orleans to rename Lee Circle in Chase's honor. 

Tout de Sweet: All About Sugar: This exhibit looks at the history of sugar in Louisiana and around the world. 

Capturing the Coast: Eating from the Gulf: The Gulf of Mexico is essential to the history of New Orleans and its food. This exhibit explores food of the gulf, the history of Gulf fish and fishermen, and the environmental impact of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.  

The Delgado Community College Culinary Arts Program: For years, Delgado Community College has had a thriving culinary arts program that has taught thousands of New Orleanians about the city’s culinary traditions. 

Red Bean City: Red beans and rice is inseparable from New Orleans and Camellia Beans tells the story of the rise of the humble red kidney bean. 

The lights outside Al Copeland's house 

Creative Kitchen of Al Copeland: Al Copeland was a New Orleans food legend. The exhibit takes guests through his life of creating Popeye’s spicy fried chicken, opening a series of restaurants, famously decorating his house with Christmas lights. 

Gallery of the South: States of Taste: Curated by residents of each Southern state, the exhibits highlight the food traditions that are unique but also contribute to a regional “Southern” food culture. 

Galatoire's Restaurant: An Exhibit: You can’t tell the history of New Orleans restaurants without discussing Galatorie’s. The famed Friday lunches still require men to wear sport coats and the restaurant doesn’t take reservations. The exhibit features artifacts, menus, and other mementos from over a hundred years of history. 

The Menu Project: An ongoing project that collects menus from a wide range of restaurants across the South. The projects traces the trends of the food world, cataloguing the rise and fall of dishes and ingredients, and how they spread across the South. 

            The next time you visit New Orleans, make sure to carve out some time for the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, it’s well worth the trip.