Food for Freedom

Description

Food for Freedom

Food for Freedom is an educational cultural program from the New Orleans Voodoo Baby Dolls that explores the rich culinary traditions of New Orleans, focusing on both beloved classics and lesser-known foods with deep historical roots.

Through hands-on demonstrations, storytelling, and cultural education, the program brings traditional dishes such as calas back into the spotlight while exploring the people, communities, and histories behind the food.

Food for Freedom celebrates food as more than nourishment but it is a connection to memory, identity, culture, and freedom. By sharing these recipes and the stories behind them, the program helps preserve New Orleans' culinary heritage and introduces new generations to the flavors and traditions that make the city unique.

"Belle calas tout chaud!" — beautiful calas, piping hot. From the 1700s into the early 1900s, free women of color called out these words on the streets of the New Orleans, selling sweet pastries called "calas" from baskets balanced on their heads. Calas are small fried rice cakes (not to be confused with beignets) with roots in West African rice-growing traditions. Under French colonial law, free women of color could hold street vending licenses — and many built businesses selling calas, often earning enough to buy family members out of slavery. After emancipation, calas remained a vital source of income in a world where Black women's labor was chronically underpaid and undervalued. 

Come taste this history with a delicious workshop and lecture. Presented by the New Orleans Voodoo Baby Dolls, this workshop is led by NOVBD founder Denise Augustine, a seventh-generation Tremé Creole raised in a family of Griots —storytellers and culture bearers.

Come try fresh calas, taste history in every bite, and leave with a story you won't find in any textbook.