 | St. Augustine Church in the historic Treme neighborhood of
New Orleans hosts Treme's Cookin' events that seek to
preserve the local culture centered on food and cooking. |  | Antonia Marigny shows how to prepare her Holy Thursday lamb
at St. Augustine Church in Treme. (Photos courtesy of Treme's
Cookin') |
They seek to reinvigorate the Treme neighborhood, one gumbo cook-off at a time. The team of Tulane public health students that began hosting a food pantry in St. Augustine's Church for people returning after Hurricane Katrina has expanded into a new project called Treme's Cookin'. The program is dedicated to building community spirit around the food and cuisine of Treme residents. Recent events included a gumbo cook-off and a tasting featuring the Sicilian recipes of Treme women. Bethany Bultman, cofounder of the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic, is a key partner and New Orleans food legend Leah Chase of Dooky Chase restaurant is a featured chef. "I hope to turn Treme's Cookin' into a women's empowerment project. Much of the notable cuisine from the Treme comes from women," says Nancy Mock, an international health researcher in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, who spearheads the project along with Pierre Buekens, dean of the school. "We hope to create business opportunities for women to enter into executive levels of the restaurant and catering business." The group plans cooking and nutrition classes taught by the older women of Treme, a historic neighborhood bounded by Rampart Street on the south, Broad Street to the north, Canal Street on the west and Esplanade Avenue on the east. Teams also will provide food outreach, helping low-income households plan and cook nutritious meals at home. "Treme's Cookin' represents a double entendre," Mock explains. "The neighborhood is cookin' through cooking. We wanted to assist the recovery by building on heritage." Mock refers to the neighborhood as "the epicenter of jazz and food in New Orleans." Treme, dating back to the early 1800s, is thought to be one of the first neighborhoods for free people of color in the United States. According to Mock, the neighborhood has a long history of contributions to the arts, music and literature, as well as food. Treme is also home to the self-sustaining, benevolent social aid and pleasure clubs that organize second-line parades and jazz funerals, among other community functions. Treme's Cookin' was developed in response to surveys of food pantry clients, who asked for new foods and more opportunities to socialize over food. The French Consulate donated seed money to found the project. In the future the group hopes to create a cookbook including neighborhood recipes, culture and history. Partners in the project include St. Augustine's Pastoral Council, the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, Whole Foods Market, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, the Consulate General of France in New Orleans, Providence Community Housing and the RALLY Foundation. September 17, 2007 | 
