“Diversity” was the primary corporate buzzword of the 1990s. It became an obsession in the business community. Consultants were hired, in-service meetings were convened, seminars were held, and long-winded, carefully worded memos were passed around from cubicle to cubicle. Millions of dollars and countless hours were spent in Fortune 500 companies all across the United States. In the aftermath of all of the meetings, and all of the counseling, and all of the emails—and once the pin-striped advisors had finally exited the boardroom—the end result was: Diversity is good.

You’re damn right it’s good. We citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi have known it for a long time. We live in one of the most diverse regions in the country. We are socially diverse, we are culturally diverse, we are economically diverse, and we are—most definitely—politically diverse.

Though nowhere does our multiculturalism and diversity shine brighter than with our food. You’ll find us eating tamales from a tin can in the Mississippi Delta, crawfish pie spiked with andouille in the swamps of Cajun Country, fresh-from-the-net boiled shrimp on the Mississippi Coast, crispy fried catfish in North Louisiana, grilled, skin-on redfish near the mouth of the Mississippi, sweet and spicy barbecued pork in the hill country, and salty oysters, freshly shucked, in the French Quarter.

Morgan Freeman might have said it best. When professing his love for Mississippi, the man who played God said, “I’d live here for the food, alone.”
Food is the common bond that binds above all. Some call it “Soul food,” others call it “Country cooking;” down here, we don’t hassle with labels. We just call it “supper.” And we start talking about supper while we’re eating lunch. The food is bold and spicy, like our people.

Our forefathers came to this region, hatchets in hand, and fought mosquitoes, ticks, alligators, rabid raccoons, swamp gas, malaria, encephalitis, Lyme disease, and a few dozen other insect-borne ailments. When the fight was through, they ate the bounty that the region offered. And it was good.

Today we battle the raging yellow storm clouds of springtime pine pollen that blow through our forests, across our roads, and into our nostrils. We beat back the winds of hurricanes and the rising tides at our levees, if only in spirit. We live on former battlegrounds. We have been once-defeated, we have been occupied, and we have overcome. We endure. We fight the scorching incubator-like heat and thick humidity of Deep South summers— heat so intense it can send one inside for most of the day. Once indoors, we gravitate to the kitchen.

We are no longer a lard bucket society of culinary dolts. We know food.

It is the common bond for Southerners of this region. Willie Morris called it an “extraordinary mutuality.” It’s in our blood and it’s woven through our history. We might have traveled here from different parts of the globe under vastly different circumstances, but we have arrived and the table is set.

Conversation is the gravy that binds the Southern dinner table-it’s fluid, it’s substantial, and it’s spicy. We’re more than MoonPies and RC Colas. We’re outdoor barbecues, country cooking, meat-and-threes, and champagne brunch. We’re seafood straight from the Gulf of Mexico—buttery crabmeat, stuffed flounder, and boiled shrimp. We’re covered dish suppers and dinner on the grounds, but we’re also John Besh’s gnocchi with crab and white truffle. Down here, it’s all about the food.

It is food that has been influenced by the first Americans, the Spanish, the French, African slaves, immigrant sharecroppers and itinerant field workers. After centuries the cuisine has blended into a thick gumbo of field-hand rations and formal French technique. It is fresh, it is satisfying, and it is good. First and foremost, it is local.

We were eating “local” before “local” was cool. It’s the new buzzword of the 21st Century, and like most of the buzzwords that came before, it’s old hat down here.

Cleveland, Mississippi
Crawdad’s
KC’s Restaurant
Airport Grocery

Nesbit, Mississippi
Bonne Terre

Hattiesburg, Mississippi
206 Front & Bianchi’s Pizzeria

Oxford, Mississippi
Ajax Diner
The Windsor

Jackson, Mississippi
Bravo, Broad Street, Sal & Mookie’s

Starkville, Mississippi
The Little Dooey
The Veranda

Amtrak's Cross-Country Cafe
Dining on The City of New Orleans

Vermilion Parish, Louisiana
Black's Oyster Bar

St. Martin, Louisiana
Bayou Boudin & Crackin Café
McGee’s Landing
Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival
Café Des Amis

Lafayette, Louisiana
Blue Dog Cafe
TABASCO Factory

St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
Abita Brewing Company and Brew Pub
Dining in Covington & Madisonville
La Provence
The best of Mandeville & Slidell

Lake Charles, Louisiana
Mazen’s
Steamboat Bill’s
Contraband Days/Barbecue Cookoff

Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Louisiana Lagniappe
Louie’s Cafe and The Chimes
Boutin’s and TJ Ribs
Tony’s Seafood Market