Michael
Murphy was an outsider, something he acknowledges in his author’s note
introducing his fabulous new book, “Eat Dat New Orleans: A Guide to the UniqueFood Culture of the Crescent City (Countryman Press).”
Like me,
Murphy is a Midwesterner who grew up in the 1960s “raised on Steak ‘n’ Shake
and Chicken in a Biscuit.” He moved to New Orleans just five years ago, too long after his first visit there in 1983, leaving behind the book publishing scene in New
York City.
“Having been
in the book business many years and having witnessed memoirs by Joe the
Plumber, the nine-year-old Slumdog Millionaire star, Rubina Ali, writing about
the trials and tribulations of her first eight years; and George W. Bush
writing about decision making. I am less concerned about have the credentials
to write a book,” Murphy wrote.
“But a book
about my beloved New Orleans and its iconic food culture was another matter,”
he continues. “However, in the writing of this book I have learned that most of
the top food critics brought little more to the job at the beginning than a
passion for New Orleans and a love of our food. Those I have in spades.”
From all of
us Northerners who have had a taste of the South and wish we indulge in it more
often, thank you. I bring the same passion to this barbecue blog, when I am
able to sit down to write.
I made my
first trip to the place Murphy unapologetically calls “the greatest city in
America” back in 1987 and sadly have only been able to return a handful of times.
As with barbecue, I do my best to replicate some of its flavors here in my
Indiana kitchen.
“Eat Dat,” Murphy’s
256-page guide to New Orleans, is more than a restaurant guide. It is a loving
re-introduction to a place many sadly still mainly associate with Hurricane
Katrina and its legacy. He opens the book with a “brief and (mostly) bona fide
history” of the city’s food.
