TAMALE TRAIL TOUR, APRIL 22

The Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail offers cultural tourists a complete guide to a unique culinary experience, and we want you to join us. Head to the Mississippi Delta, which has been called "the most Southern place on earth" for its unique history, music, culture, and yes, its food. The Tamale Trail Tour will make stops in Clarksdale, Cleveland, and Rosedale. We'll visit with a handful of vendors in each locale. We will talk about the history of hot tamales in the area, get some lessons in making hot tamales, and, of course, eat some hot tamales.

Tour guide for this event will be Amy Evans, the oral historian for the Southern Foodways Alliance and chief architect of the Tamale Trail. Food & Wine named Amy one of the "top 35 under 35" to watch, and her interviews with Doe's Eat Place in Greenville recently won the Elbert R. Hilliard Oral History Award. The Hilliard award was established last year by the Mississippi Historical Society to recognize outstanding work in oral history, and is named for the retired head of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for his diligent support of the medium.

The Southern Foodways Alliance and Viking Range Corporation created the Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail, an effort to document the history, tradition, and culture of hot tamales from Tunica to Vicksburg. Visit the project online at www.tamaletrail.com.

This Tamale Trek is sponsored by the Southern Foodways Alliance and the Office of Outreach at the University of Mississippi. Registration cost is $75 per person. The fee includes bus transportation, presentations and, of course, tamales. Download an online registration form and order your hot tamale t-shirt here: http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/tamale_trail/

DOOKY COME BACK!

Dooky Come Back: Holy Thursday Gumbo Z'Herbes Luncheon
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Help Get Leah Chase back in Her New Orleans Kitchen

Proudly hosted by MURIEL'S, 801 Chartres Street, NOLA

Menu: gumbo z'herbes, fried chicken, bread pudding with whiskey sauce
Wines: Ravenswood Winery, Simi Winery, Caymus Winery, Sequoia Grove Winery, and Perrier-Joulet Champagne

GIVING LEVELS

* Roux: Traditional gumbo z'herbes Lunch $75
* Dooky Donor: Commemorative autographed poster; traditional gumbo z'herbes lunch $150.
* Holy Trinity: Leah Chase cooking class at Savvy Gourmet; commemorative autographed poster; traditional gumbo z'herbes lunch $300.
* Gumbo Z'Herbes: entertainment provided by Leah Chase Kamata; invitation to Grand Re-opening of Dooky Chase Restaurant; commemorative autographed poster; traditional gumbo z'herbes lunch $500.

All proceeds benefit the rebuilding of Dooky Chase. For a reservation, please call 504-568-9021. If you are unable to join us but would like to make a contribution, please contact poppy@poppytooker.com

Listen to Lolis Elie, who says, "n those days before integration, when we needed a place to meet and eat and plan a future for our city that would include all of us, her doors were open. When we wanted to keep the Thursday before Easter Holy, we came to her for green gumbo and fellowship, and a reminder of those old Creole traditions that we might otherwise have forgotten. When we needed support for our community or just a kind word and a smiling face, we went to her. Now that the winds and waters of the recent hurricanes have left Dooky Chase battered and in disrepair, Leah Chase needs us. She intends to rebuild that once grand restaurant. We hope you will join us in helping her."

AMY EVANS WINS ORAL HISTORY AWARD

The SFA's own Amy Evans was recently chosen as the first recipient of the Elbert R. Hilliard Oral History Award for an oral history project on Greenville-based restaurant Doe's Eat Place. The award was established last year by the Mississippi Historical Society to recognize outstanding work in oral history, and is named for the retired head of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for his diligent support of the medium.

It's an exemplary project; they were diligent in following the principles and standards of doing an oral project while still being innovative, said Stephen Sloan, chairman of the Mississippi Historical Society's Oral History Committee, which chose the winner.

MISS EDNA LEWIS PASSES

By Wendell Brock, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 02/14/06

The granddaughter of a Virginia slave, Edna Lewis created a gastronomic temple out of a tiny New York cafe and served such 20th-century luminaries as Truman Capote, Greta Garbo and William Faulkner.

A culinary purist, she milked her own cows, walked blocks to find the perfect peach and could tell when a cake was ready by "listening" to it.

By the time of her death early Monday at 89, she had become the South's answer to Julia Child, influencing a generation of cooks and writers who were eager to preserve the region's vanishing food culture.

To read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/obits/stories/0214oblewis.html

To read the New York Times article by Kim Severson and Eric Asimov:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/national/14lewis.html

To share your recollections on an AJC Blog:
http://www.ajc.com/living/content/shared-blogs/ajc/tabletalk

RUTH U. FERTEL FOUNADTION MAKES IMPACT IN NOLA

RUTH U. FERTEL FOUNADTION MAKES IMPACT IN NOLA

The Ruth U. Fertel Foundation -- established in the will of the founder of the Ruth's Chris Steak House fine dining chain -- has announced grants and pledges of $1.2 million to New Orleans education in the next year, including public, private and parochial schools; special programs designed to serve students from kindergarten through college; and other high-impact educational initiatives.

These funds honor Ruth's memory and do what she would have done – help New Orleans recover from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina by supporting its educational institutions. The Southern Foodways Alliance which annually pays homage to an unsung hero or heroine of the food world with the Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award, is conducting a post-Katrina culinary oral history project financed in part by The Ruth U. Fertel Foundation. For more information, randy@fertel.com

Tabasco and SFA Team to Raise NOLA Awareness

The Southern Foodways Alliance is teaming up with Tabasco sauce, Louisiana's culinary native son, to raise awareness of the resurgence of the New Orleans food scene and encourage Americans to come back and support one of America's most unique culinary meccas.

In a series of special events in select cities across 2006, this team of southern culinary institutions will showcase some of the most interesting and unusual foods born of Cajun and Creole cultures at open-to-the public tastings and hands-on demonstrations.

The calendar will be announced in early spring 2006. Soon more information will be available at www.southernfoodways.com and www.tabasco.com.