New Orleans Cuisine, unto its own.

I thought that I knew what New Orleans cuisine was. We had grown up together and was blessed with many opportunities to enjoy the great culinary establishments of the city, but returning home after a culinary tour of the USA my view has changed. It is like living under a blanket, not wanting to feel the cold of change of anything different than what was before. While in culinary school, my hometown approached me in a new way. It was the only city in the entire USA with its own dedicated days of cuisine cookery. Getting to know where I am from, made me proud of where I am from...but, it is different down here. New Orleans was settled and resettled by several different ethnicity, all lending their heritage to what we know as New Orleans cuisine. In contrast, some places of settlement in the North East have never strayed from their roots, lending the cuisine to be boring and comprising of mostly chains. For a meal in New Orleans, fast food isn't the only option. The same price of a combo meal at any chain, can get you a meat, two sides, and some bread at several local eateries throughout the city. So moving to the point. I have been called a "Yankee" since back home in the kitchens of New Orleans, for reasons of speech and ambition. It seems silly, to apologize for passion, but it is the exact reason why I stopped cooking earlier in my career. My family has been in the area since leaving Germany four generations ago, and I am the only one left of my family. Who knows what the future holds but with all of its eccentricities, New Orleans is an acquired taste...