New Orleans Cooking Meets a Taste of Vietnam

 

Americans in Maine would say their state is best known for its seafood¹, especially lobster².

Texas and North and South Carolina argue about which state has the best barbecue.

And the same goes for New Yorkers and people from Chicago when it comes to which city has the best pizza.

But the city with possibly the richest food culture is New Orleans, Louisiana.

New Orleans, also known as the “Big Easy,” is almost 300 years old. It is home to almost 350,000 people and covers about 90,000 hectares. The city has a mix of French, Spanish and Caribbean influences. These influences can be seen in not just the food, but also the music and buildings.

Many people travel to New Orleans every year for any one of the city’s many festivals. They come for wild parties, and rarely leave without a taste for southern cooking.

Restaurant critic Tom Fitzmorris operates a website called The New Orleans Menu. It lists about 1,550 restaurants in the city. So how does one chef separate their food from the food of the others?

Amarys Herndon and her husband Jordan try their best by cooking traditional New Orleans food in a special way: a Vietnamese way.

In 2007, the Herndons moved to the city from Texas to study cooking at Delgado Community College. But for Amarys Herndon, the love for making tasty food started much earlier.

"I always really liked cooking. My mom hated cooking. So as soon as I showed an interest in it, she just let me take over. I have 8 younger brothers and sisters ... Our financial situation was pretty tight. So…one of my tricks was making stuff³ look really pretty on the plate, so that they’d be excited to eat it even if it was the same thing that we’d had for four meals in a row."

Herndon and her husband worked in famous New Orleans restaurants for several years. They learned⁴ how to make the traditional dishes, like gumbo and po’boys.

And then they decided⁵ to launch⁶ their own eatery. They opened an independent company called The Old Portage, using the cooking areas of other businesses. They kept most of the traditional cooking they learned in restaurants the same.

But Herndon says they saw so many people cooking crawfish in the usual New Orleans way that they knew they had to make a change. They remembered seeing Vietnamese people living in the Houston, Texas, area cook crawfish in their own traditional way. Herndon says she loved the different spices and ingredients⁷.

And so she and her husband started going to a bar called the Black Penny in the city’s historic⁸ French Quarter. Now, they prepare a Vietnamese-style “crawfish boil” there several times a month.

New Orleans-style spicy⁹ crawfish often comes with corn and boiled potatoes. But the Herndons serve theirs with lemongrass butter and bread from Dong Phuong, a real Vietnamese bakery.

And it has become a great success.

A former employer¹⁰ once told Herndon that, in order to cook food in the style of another culture, one must show that culture respect. Herndon says several Vietnamese are often among the people enjoying her style of crawfish. And that makes her believe she is honoring¹¹ both New Orleans and Vietnamese culture as best she can.

"There’s a story and a history to almost every dish here. You can see the ties to all the different cultures that have come through, which is one of my favorite things about the city… Because you can see the way all these different cultures have affected¹² New Orleans and our food here."

Nicholas Christian¹³ is another person that moved to New Orleans for the food. He works¹⁴ with several local coffee shops and has helped some restaurants choose the different kinds of food they will serve.

He says a crawfish boil is the perfect example of the culture of eating in the Big Easy. Friends and strangers come together at large tables eat to all the food as one group. A meal here is a time when people slow down and pay more attention to what they are doing and who they are with, Christian says.

"Food is a way of life and down here it definitely¹⁵ shows. The amount of high quality food you can get down here for the price is incredible¹⁶. If you do go to a fine dining restaurant [and] you spend $60 on a steak, it’s going to be one of the best steaks you’ve ever had in your life."

New Orleans has its problems like any other city, Christian says. But he adds that love of food, music and life make it home to anyone that visits.

Words in This Story

lobster - n. an ocean animal that has a long body, a hard shell, and a pair of large, sharp, curved¹⁷ parts on the toes, and that is caught for food

barbecue - n. food that has been cooked on a flat metal frame¹⁸ over hot coals or an open fire

pizza - n. a food made from flat, usually round bread that is topped with usually a yellow or white solid food that is made from milk called cheese, as well as a thick liquid made from a round, soft, red fruit called a tomato

chef - n. a professional cook who usually is in charge of a restaurant

gumbo - n. a thick soup made in the southern U.S. with meat or seafood

po’boys - n. two pieces of bread filled with seafood that is served in Louisiana

crawfish - n. an animal that looks like a small lobster and lives in rivers and streams

spice(s) - n. a substance that is used in cooking to add flavor¹⁹ to food and that comes from a dried plant and is usually a powder or seed?

ingredient(s) - n. one of the things that are used to make a food or product

potato(es) - n. a round root of a plant that has brown, yellow, or red skin and white or yellow flesh and that is eaten as a vegetable

lemongrass - n. a type of grass that produces an oil that smells like lemon and is widely used in Asian cooking

butter - n. a solid yellow substance made from milk or cream that is spread on food or used in cooking?

bakery - n. a place where bread, cakes, cookies, and other baked foods are made or sold

steak - n. a thick, flat piece of meat and especially beef

1 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

2 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。

3 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

4 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 launch   

vt.发动，推出；发射；n.发射，下水，投产

参考例句：

• The makers are about to launch out a new product.制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。
• Would it be wise to launch into this rough sea?在这样汹涌的大海中游泳明智吗？

7 ingredients   

n.（混合物的）组成部分( ingredient的名词复数 )；（烹调的）原料；（构成）要素；因素

参考例句：

• All ingredients are readily available from your local store. 所有的原料都可以方便地从你当地的商店买到。
• We never use second quality ingredients to build building. 我们决不使用次等材料用于建筑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

9 spicy   

adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的

参考例句：

• The soup tasted mildly spicy.汤尝起来略有点辣。
• Very spicy food doesn't suit her stomach.太辣的东西她吃了胃不舒服。

10 employer   

n.雇用方，雇主

参考例句：

• My employer deducted ten pounds from my wages this week.我的雇主从我本周的工钱中扣除了十英镑。
• His monthly salary is paid into the bank by his employer.他的月薪由雇主替他存入银行。

11 honoring   

v.尊敬，给以荣誉( honor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They sat in silence, honoring the clan Jordache for a moment. 他们默默地坐了一会儿，对乔达虚家族表示了一番敬意。 来自辞典例句
• Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check. 美国没有履行这项神圣的义务，只是给黑人开了一张空头支票。 来自辞典例句

12 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

13 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

14 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

15 definitely   

adv.一定地，肯定地；明确地，确切地

参考例句：

• The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛，这个队肯定会输。
• I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前，我一定回家。

16 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

17 curved   

a.弯曲的

参考例句：

• His lips curved in a barely perceptible smile. 他的嘴角弯了弯，露出一丝几乎察觉不到的笑容。
• The missile curved gracefully towards its target. 导弹呈优美的曲线状飞向目标。

18 frame   

n.框架，结构，体格；vt.构成，设计，制定，使适合，陷害； 框架，（是指在数据链路层中，将网络层数据包加上开始与结尾信息包组成一个框架）

参考例句：

• The house has a wooden frame which is faced with brick.这个房子是木质结构的砖瓦房。
• We must frame up that picture.我们必须给那幅画装上框。

19 flavor   

n.味，滋味，味道；风味；vt.调味，加味于

参考例句：

• I like the flavor of chocolate.我喜欢巧克力的味道。
• Each flavor was totally unique.每一种味道都是独一无二的。