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Sicilian Roots: How the Agricultural Pursuits of Immigrant Sicilians Shaped Modern New Orleans Cuisine

The influx of immigrant Sicilians into southeastern Louisiana in the nineteenth century resulted in a parallel rise of the French Quarter as a culinary destination. Through an analysis of menus, recipe books, city directories, newspapers and census rolls, this work maps the growing influence of Sicilian farmers, vendors, and restaurateurs on New Orleans foodways. The often-overlooked community of Sicilians already living in the city in the early nineteenth century set the stage for the mass migration from Sicily to New Orleans later in the century, when Sicilians gained control of the produce food market in southeast Louisiana. A comparison of local cookbooks and recipes from before the mass arrival of the Sicilians with those created after Sicilians began to dominate agricultural production in Louisiana reveals a subtle shift in the use of ingredients, as local cooks incorporated into local dishes the produce made available by Sicilian farmers and vendors.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:uno.edu/oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-3835
Date05 August 2019
CreatorsGuccione, Laura A
PublisherScholarWorks@UNO
Source SetsUniversity of New Orleans
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceUniversity of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

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