Book Review: Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook

Edited by Tara Fitzpatrick

by Poppy Tooker 2009 marketumbrella.com

In New Orleans, “Meet me at the market” means a morning or early afternoon of healthy habits: local produce, farmers, chefs, vendors, fishermen, poets, a hot cup of chicory-laced coffee, fresh shrimp, flowers, bread, boiled peanuts and so much more.

New Orleans food personality Poppy Tooker won “Cookbook of the Year” from New Orleans Magazine with the Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook.

Renowned slow-food pioneer Alice Waters wrote the forward to the book: “Going to the market celebrates the rhythm of the seasons, and it celebrates the culture and traditions of diversified, sustainable and local agriculture.”

Tooker emphasizes the New Orleans sense of community and the role it played in bringing the market back after Katrina. Like much of what is now being written about New Orleans, resilience is a recurring theme.

A fierce sense of pride is evident in the recipes and stories Tooker gathered for the book. There are enough seafood-stuffed, blackened, Creole-seasoned and sausage-sauced entrees to satisfy the hungriest New Orleans cuisine hound.

There are also a good number of creative uses for all that peak produce from the farmers market. The Grilled Vegetable Po' Boy is a revelation for the vegetarian, “but imagine what a little roast beef gravy could do!” Tooker writes.

Other vegetables featured would make for some exciting side dishes: Stewed Okra, Southern Cooked Greens and Corn Macque Choux (a famous savory Cajun side dish with corn, heavy cream, tomatoes, hot sauce and green onions).