dunbars

Heavily damaged by the flooding in September 2005, Dunbar’s Creole Restaurant operates as a testament to the power of food to identify a community. What is it about human nature that allows us to persist through tough times? Once more, what is the affect of food on the human psyche, why do the reopening of restaurants signal a return to normalcy for so many in this city? What does food identify about this city that causes people to see it as an icon and as a signifier of what was, and what could be? The history and causes of Creole food and its relationship to a sense of routine and everyday in New Orleans was going to be the subject of my conversation with Mrs Dunbar at her restaurant yesterday. However Mrs Dunbar was caught up in a meeting which she had forgotten about and asked if I could see her Friday because “Baby, then I’ll be able to tell you anything you want to know” I certainly couldn’t leave Dunbars before trying the food though. The 5 dollar special: beans, rice, and fried chicken; otherwise known as the laundry day special intrigued me. Since I could not ask Mrs Dunbar at the time what the laundry day special was, or why it was called that, I decided to make research on the relationship between days of the week and food. If there is a relationship, I want to find out what it is, and what were the factors influencing this. From this research I feel I will be much more suited to talk with Mrs. Dunbar, so in a way it is good thing that we delayed our conversation. My first investigation was into the obvious “laundry day”. As it turns out, it comes literally from the old tradition of Monday’s being laundry day, when it would take the woman of the household the entire day to take care of the family’s laundry, leaving no time for cooking the evenings meal. A result of this, Mondays in New Orleans are known as laundry day at restaurants, the dish of the day being red beans and rice. Able to be set on the stove and left all day for the beans to simmer in a tomato base soup with ham-hocks and whatever other creole seasonings are handy, then poured over rice, this dish has become an icon within the city to its people. Restaurants all over the city offer this dish on Monday, many bars even offer it for free to their customers. One of the most astounding dishes I noticed on several creole restaurants menu’s as the special on Wednesdays is spaghetti and meatballs, I have no idea why this is and I intend on finding out Friday when I talk to Mrs Dunbar. The significance of other days of the week to food included Friday nights and Sunday nights. Being the major family nights of the week, and after the husband had received his weekly pay, families could afford to put more expensive meat and seafood into their dishes…. To be continued Friday afternoon.