Praise for Gumbo Tales From the Media Chile Pepper Magazine “Like a plate of gumbo z’herbes, a Lenten dish that calls for up to 15 different greens, it’s so delicious that you have no idea how many vitamins you’re getting.” Washington Post, Jonathan Yardley “Gumbo Tales can be read, profitably and pleasurably, at several levels.” Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Trachtenberg “Sara Roahen's "Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table," makes you want to spend a week -- immediately -- in New Orleans.“ (Click here to read the Q&A) Elle “A deeply informed and plainly heartfelt investigation into New Orleans’ finest (and even its not-so-fine) food traditions taps into a cornucopia of cultural riches.” Salon.com, Mardi Gras 2008 “Gumbo Tales is an endearing collection of stories from the seven years [Roahen] spent in the Crescent City, learning to embrace its unapologetically decadent cuisine. It is part culinary history, part memoir and part homage to places that have since been erased.” (Click here to read “Gumbo City.” A Mighty Appetite with Kim O’Donnel, Blog “Roahen is funny, strange and like a true New Orleanian, gets right under your skin. I can't wait for what else she's got in that brain of hers.” The Austin Chronicle, Virginia Wood “Several years ago, when I heard that both the daily paper and the alternative newsweekly in the city of New Orleans had hired transplanted Midwesterners to write about restaurants there, I'll have to admit they struck me as odd choices for the job. But when I received this delightful volume by former Gambit Weekly restaurant reviewer/food writer Sara Roahen last fall, the genius of her hiring became apparent.” Molly Stevens, cookbook author, All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking “I find myself savoring every passage, relishing each chapter more than the last. It's like some rowdy, multi-course banquet served up with humor and gusto -- and one I never want to end.” Publishers Weekly “In this gratifying love letter to her adopted home, food writer Roahen takes the French idea of terroir—the effect of a region’s climate and geography on its wine grapes—as a jumping-off point, locating New Orlean’s “emotional terroir” in its food. Though it’s a nebulous concept, this culinary tour succeeds repeatedly in defining the indefinable with grace, wit and passion—especially in regards to the city’s alluring, complex flavors and aromas.” The Dallas Morning News, Bill Addison “With the recent surplus of food-related literature, the chorus of narratives about culinary heritages or moments of enlightenment gleaned from a bowl of pasta have become muddled. Which is why, when one food writer's clarion voice cuts through the silt, the rest of us hired mouths want to celebrate, if not become a teensy bit jealous. Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, by Sara Roahen, achieves that coveted quality.” From the Locals “I hate the fact that I now have to justify my love for New Orleans, but when I do, I’m going to use Gumbo Tales as a tool.” --Susan Spicer, chef, author of Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans “If you’re sad not to be in New Orleans, Gumbo Tales is a fine book to soothe your cravings. If you’re happy to be in New Orleans, this is the book to lead you, rejoicing, to your favorite restaurant, or fire up that kitchen stove to make a batch of gumbo for your mama ‘n’ dem.” --Susan Larson, The Times-Picayune (Click here to read “The Six-Year Dinner.”) “Since I am from New Orleans, I am often asked to recommend one book that really explains the city. I usually recommend A Confederacy of Dunces to describe the city in general and recommend something by Lafcadio Hearn to describe the food. I won’t abandon Hearn, but I will now definitely add Roahen to the list of reading that captures the palate of the city.” -- Liz Williams, Southern Food & Beverage Museum "Gumbo Tales is much more than a food book. It's Sara Roahen's love letter to New Orleans, her adopted hometown. Her perspective on its crazy-quilt food culture is both reliably authoritative and deeply personal. She leads us on a gastronomic trip peppered with a razor-sharp wit, tantalizing experiences and a cast of engaging characters that includes Roahen herself." -- Gene Bourg, writer From the Jacket “Sara Roahen's food writing is so vivid you can smell the shrimp in Big Mama's seafood gumbo and feel your brain freeze from Hansen's Sno-Balls. But what starts out an engaging food lover's tour of New Orleans is rudely interrupted by a hurricane. Gumbo Tales is a before-and-after Katrina portrait of New Orleans foodways--a loving tribute to what endures-- and a sad catalog of what has been lost.” -- Robb Walsh, author of The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos “Sara Roahen’s empathetic tales of time at table in New Orleans will break your heart and rile your stomach. If you wish to understand why and how food matters in this papal city of American cookery, trust her palate, trust her pen.” -- John T. Edge, author of Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Companion to the South “You just bought yourself a copy of Gumbo Tales. Okay, now here’s what you do. Mix yourself a Sazerac–a tumbler full, this may take a while–sit down on your comfy chair and put your feet up on the ottoman. You’re going to New Orleans, lucky you, and you’re not going to want to move from your seat except to maybe order yourself a dozen oysters and have them flown in from Casamento’s. Sara Roahen writes like a ravenous angel about her beloved and indomitable city and about the culinary culture that breathes life into it. This is the only book on New Orleans cooking that you’ll need on the shelf.” -- John Dufresne, author of Louisiana Power & Light “Sara Roahen has a wonderful style that reads as though it had been lifted from conversation—casual vernacular, you might call it. It makes the reading akin to listening, and what I hear seems natural and effortless and authentic. This is food writing at its best, because it engages and informs and entertains—and it's about ever so much more than just the food.” -- John Egerton, author of Southern Food: At Home, On the Road, in History “By turns hilarious and heart-wrenching, Sara Roahen’s tales of how a Wisconsin-raised vegetarian came to adore the foods of New Orleans in the years before Katrina, and how they became a lifeline in the years that followed, are a reaffirmation of the bonds between cuisine and community. Furthermore, the wealth of insider information about New Orleans food in these pages makes Gumbo Tales required reading for anyone headed to the Big Easy (and trust us: once you read Roahen on the pleasures of an oyster loaf, you’ll be looking into flights and hotels). -- Matt Lee and Ted Lee, authors of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook

Praise for Gumbo Tales

From the Media

Chile Pepper Magazine “Like a plate of gumbo z’herbes, a Lenten dish that calls for up to 15 different greens, it’s so delicious that you have no idea how many vitamins you’re getting.”

Washington Post, Jonathan Yardley “Gumbo Tales can be read, profitably and pleasurably, at several levels.”

Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Trachtenberg “Sara Roahen's "Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table," makes you want to spend a week -- immediately -- in New Orleans.“ (Click here to read the Q&A)

Elle “A deeply informed and plainly heartfelt investigation into New Orleans’ finest (and even its not-so-fine) food traditions taps into a cornucopia of cultural riches.”

Salon.com, Mardi Gras 2008 “Gumbo Tales is an endearing collection of stories from the seven years [Roahen] spent in the Crescent City, learning to embrace its unapologetically decadent cuisine. It is part culinary history, part memoir and part homage to places that have since been erased.” (Click here to read “Gumbo City.”

A Mighty Appetite with Kim O’Donnel, Blog “Roahen is funny, strange and like a true New Orleanian, gets right under your skin. I can't wait for what else she's got in that brain of hers.”

The Austin Chronicle, Virginia Wood “Several years ago, when I heard that both the daily paper and the alternative newsweekly in the city of New Orleans had hired transplanted Midwesterners to write about restaurants there, I'll have to admit they struck me as odd choices for the job. But when I received this delightful volume by former Gambit Weekly restaurant reviewer/food writer Sara Roahen last fall, the genius of her hiring became apparent.”

Molly Stevens, cookbook author, All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking “I find myself savoring every passage, relishing each chapter more than the last. It's like some rowdy, multi-course banquet served up with humor and gusto -- and one I never want to end.”

Publishers Weekly “In this gratifying love letter to her adopted home, food writer Roahen takes the French idea of terroir—the effect of a region’s climate and geography on its wine grapes—as a jumping-off point, locating New Orlean’s “emotional terroir” in its food. Though it’s a nebulous concept, this culinary tour succeeds repeatedly in defining the indefinable with grace, wit and passion—especially in regards to the city’s alluring, complex flavors and aromas.”

The Dallas Morning News, Bill Addison “With the recent surplus of food-related literature, the chorus of narratives about culinary heritages or moments of enlightenment gleaned from a bowl of pasta have become muddled. Which is why, when one food writer's clarion voice cuts through the silt, the rest of us hired mouths want to celebrate, if not become a teensy bit jealous. Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, by Sara Roahen, achieves that coveted quality.”

From the Locals

“I hate the fact that I now have to justify my love for New Orleans, but when I do, I’m going to use Gumbo Tales as a tool.” --Susan Spicer, chef, author of Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans

“If you’re sad not to be in New Orleans, Gumbo Tales is a fine book to soothe your cravings. If you’re happy to be in New Orleans, this is the book to lead you, rejoicing, to your favorite restaurant, or fire up that kitchen stove to make a batch of gumbo for your mama ‘n’ dem.” --Susan Larson, The Times-Picayune (Click here to read “The Six-Year Dinner.”)

“Since I am from New Orleans, I am often asked to recommend one book that really explains the city. I usually recommend A Confederacy of Dunces to describe the city in general and recommend something by Lafcadio Hearn to describe the food. I won’t abandon Hearn, but I will now definitely add Roahen to the list of reading that captures the palate of the city.” -- Liz Williams, Southern Food & Beverage Museum

"Gumbo Tales is much more than a food book. It's Sara Roahen's love letter to New Orleans, her adopted hometown. Her perspective on its crazy-quilt food culture is both reliably authoritative and deeply personal. She leads us on a gastronomic trip peppered with a razor-sharp wit, tantalizing experiences and a cast of engaging characters that includes Roahen herself." -- Gene Bourg, writer

From the Jacket

“Sara Roahen's food writing is so vivid you can smell the shrimp in Big Mama's seafood gumbo and feel your brain freeze from Hansen's Sno-Balls. But what starts out an engaging food lover's tour of New Orleans is rudely interrupted by a hurricane. Gumbo Tales is a before-and-after Katrina portrait of New Orleans foodways--a loving tribute to what endures-- and a sad catalog of what has been lost.” -- Robb Walsh, author of The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos

“Sara Roahen’s empathetic tales of time at table in New Orleans will break your heart and rile your stomach. If you wish to understand why and how food matters in this papal city of American cookery, trust her palate, trust her pen.” -- John T. Edge, author of Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Companion to the South

“You just bought yourself a copy of Gumbo Tales. Okay, now here’s what you do. Mix yourself a Sazerac–a tumbler full, this may take a while–sit down on your comfy chair and put your feet up on the ottoman. You’re going to New Orleans, lucky you, and you’re not going to want to move from your seat except to maybe order yourself a dozen oysters and have them flown in from Casamento’s. Sara Roahen writes like a ravenous angel about her beloved and

indomitable city and about the culinary culture that breathes life into it. This is the only book on New Orleans cooking that you’ll need on the shelf.” -- John Dufresne, author of Louisiana Power & Light

“Sara Roahen has a wonderful style that reads as though it had been lifted from conversation—casual vernacular, you might call it. It makes the reading akin to listening, and what I hear seems natural and effortless and authentic. This is food writing at its best, because it engages and informs and entertains—and it's about ever so much more than just the food.” -- John Egerton, author of Southern Food: At Home, On the Road, in History

“By turns hilarious and heart-wrenching, Sara Roahen’s tales of how a Wisconsin-raised vegetarian came to adore the foods of New Orleans in the years before Katrina, and how they became a lifeline in the years that followed, are a reaffirmation of the bonds between cuisine and community. Furthermore, the wealth of insider information about New Orleans food in these pages makes Gumbo Tales required reading for anyone headed to the Big Easy (and trust us: once you read Roahen on the pleasures of an oyster loaf, you’ll be looking into flights and hotels). -- Matt Lee and Ted Lee, authors of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook