2006年VOA标准英语-New Orleans Radio Show Focuses on Food

By Greg Flakus
New Orleans, LA
24 January 2006
 
watch Radio Food Show report
 
  
  
It has been nearly five months since the city of New Orleans was devastated¹ by flooding, following the passage of Hurricane Katrina. But residents are returning and bringing back some of the city's favorite pastimes, such as playing music and eating the famous local Creole cooking. One radio personality is doing his part by keeping a list of restaurants that have re-opened. VOA's Greg Flakus has more in this report about a daily radio program dedicated² to food.

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Every Monday through Friday, people in New Orleans can tune³ in and call in to radio station WSMB for three hours of talk about food with host Tom Fitzmorris.

On the phone with a caller:

Caller: "We have been there to Giovanni's many, many times and we plan to keep going back."

Host: "Well, nice hearing from you. Thank you for calling us.

Caller: 'Alrighty, then.'

Host: "See ya. This is the food show on 1350 WSMB, I'm Tom Fitzmorris. Hey, by the way, all this stuff, like the list of restaurants that are open is on my Web site, which is NOMENU.com."
 

On his web site, Tom Fitzmorris keeps tabs on local eateries that have re-opened. His slogan is "Bringing Back New Orleans, One Restaurant at a Time."

He says the idea came about during the darkest time for the city, just days after the hurricane, when he, along with thousands of others, had to evacuate⁴.

 
Tom Fitzmorris, host of New Orleans Radio Food Show
  
"I got an email from one of my readers of my daily Internet newsletter and he asked if I could give him a list of restaurants that are opened now. And I thought what kind of idiot is this? The city is in chaos⁵. The entire area is officially evacuated⁶, you are not even supposed to be here and he is asking about restaurants?"

Then a number of restaurants contacted him to let him know they were open.

"So I thought, 'Let me make the list,' and I came up with 21 restaurants. This was when most of the city was officially closed. So I just kept this list going and I have continued to revise it every day and, as of today, we have 440 places and they keep coming at the rate, lately, of three, four, or five restaurants a day."

Now, area chefs and restaurant owners are frequent guests on "The Food Show."

One chef bought a sample of gumbo  
  
Sometimes they even bring their own gumbo to share with anyone who stops by.

But the "Food Show" is not confined to the upscale, culinary stars of the city.

Listeners often share information about their favorite local bars, cafes and neighborhood stores that make sandwiches like the Po-boy, which use french bread and are often made with shrimp⁷ or oysters⁸.

 
Preparing a po-boy sandwich 
  
"That is one of the strengths of New Orleans is that everybody here is an eater. Everybody here… it is a big, big deal. So we can get away with a show like this."

Tom Fitzmorris has been "getting away" with his call-in radio show about restaurants, cooking and all things food related for more than 17 years, something that he says could only happen in New Orleans.

"There are shows like this in other cities but they only do them once a week and usually for an hour or so. How we have been able to get away with doing it for three hours a day, five days a week in drive time yet, for 17 years, well, heck, I am glad of it."

Fitzmorris says his show draws on food traditions here in New Orleans that date back centuries.

"We have our own culinary style. I think this is the only place in America that has an indigenous⁹ style of cooking that is as old as this. They were identifying Creole cooking 150 years ago as a full-fledged cuisine¹⁰ that had a way of treating just about everything you could think of."

Tom Fitzmorris says around a third of the city's pre-Katrina eateries are now open again, but he assures potential visitors that good food is easy to find.
 
Another resturant in New Orleans reopens

  
  
"If they are coming to town and they want to spend some time here, they ask me, 'Are the restaurants open? Is there any place for me to eat?' And the answer is yes, for anybody who comes here, you are not even going to be slightly lacking in places to go."

And visitors are welcome to offer their opinions on dining experiences in New Orleans by calling in to "The Food Show."

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

4 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

5 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

6 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

7 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

8 oysters   

牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We don't have oysters tonight, but the crayfish are very good. 我们今晚没有牡蛎供应。但小龙虾是非常好。
• She carried a piping hot grill of oysters and bacon. 她端出一盘滚烫的烤牡蛎和咸肉。

9 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

10 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。