• Culinary History Project
• Teacher Workshops
• Classroom Presentations
• Field Trips
• Resources
• Family Day

Winner of the History Channel’s 2005 Save Our History Community Award
funding innovative, educational projects that bring communities together and engage children in the preservation of their local history

 “A Dollop of History in Every Bite” is a culinary history project that explores the evolution of Creole cookery in New Orleans.  The educational project was initiated in January 2005 with a Save Our History grant awarded by the History Channel.  In its first year, 16 teachers and approximately 450 students participated in the project’s four phases:

• Creole Immersion: Equipped with a six-week timeline, a cross-curriculum workbook of lesson plans, and thirteen 20-minute videos on the origins of foods, teachers introduce students to Creole cooking.
• Journal Keeping: Each student keeps a 7- to 10-day food journal, tracking not only what they ate, but where and with whom.  The journals provide an assessment of the prevalence of Creole cooking in the home.
• Field Work: Using recording equipment provided by the grant, students conduct oral-history interviews with family members, neighbors, celebrity chefs, and customers and vendors at the Crescent City Farmers Market.
• Commercial Creole Cooking: Field trips to local restaurants in the French Quarter expose students to Creole cooking as a viable business.

The project was selected by the History Channel to receive the Community Preservation Award, one of three national prizes.  Underwritten by Lowe’s Companies, the award bestowed $10,000 to The Collection to continue the culinary project.

Schools and teachers: A DVD documenting the various phases of the project is available to educational institutions. If you are interested in participating in the culinary history project, contact Sue Laudeman, curator of education and culinary project director, (504) 598-7154; sue@hnoc.org.