Writer documenting life in New Orleans 9th Ward. I'm eating 500 po boys at 500 different restaurants, gas stations, corner stores and cafes in New Orleans
2026 American Cured Meat Championships in Milwaukee
Over the past 77 years cured meat artisans and purveyors have gathered together once a year to crown their kings or queens of ham, bacon, mortadella, baloney, and every kind of sausage under the sun.
In the early days, beginning in 1949, it was just a few dozen men having fun, eating meat, drinking beer and enjoying the camaraderie that comes with being butchers, farmers or rural charcuterie experts.
Bragging rights were at stake.
That first year sixty-five hams were judged in four classes. Now the event is a colossus with hundreds of meat products being judged across dozens of classes.
If you like cured meat it’s a sort of Roman orgy for charcuterie lovers.
I’ve reached out to some fellow meat industry vets to secure a list of winners for 2026. Keep abreast of this space. More reportage soon.
To tell the story of a brand’s packaging it’s often useful to examine their advertising campaigns from days of yore. I began a recent research journey through Luzianne tea packaging history by examining when and why they shifted from metal tin packaging to paperboard, a thicker, stiffer version of paper (made from wood pulp or recycled paper fibers).
Switzerland to host 27th International Chicory Biennial in September
EASTERN SWITZERLAND — The 27th International Chicory Biennial, the world’s premier trade event for the chicory sector, will take place Sept. 23-24, 2026. New Orleanians know and love chicory having drunk the stuff since the early 19th century
The biennial event, held in different countries every two years, serves as the industry’s most significant gathering.
Gamper Gemüsekulturen AG will again host the International Chicory Biennial, welcoming approximately 160 industry professionals from across Europe.
The company was established in 2016 by a collective of seven leading vegetable producers in Eastern Switzerland. The goal of this merger was to consolidate their regional offerings to provide a broader, year-round selection of Swiss vegetables.
The biennial serves as a critical forum for root vegetable producers, seed companies, researchers and agricultural equipment suppliers to foster cross-border collaboration and exchange technical expertise. Organizers said sustained high registration figures reflect the event’s enduring importance to the sector.
Switzerland to host 27th International Chicory Biennial in September
This may or may not be as fun as a get-down in Crowley on a Saturday night.
The program is as follows:
Day one, Sept. 23 at the Revier Hotel Säntispark, located at Wiesenbachstrasse 5 in Abtwil. The program features a series of international expert presentations on practical research and applications, anchored by keynote addresses and a panel discussion focused on structural challenges currently facing the global chicory market.
The program concludes on Sept. 24 with a tour and trade exhibition at the Gamper Chicorée AG facilities in Stettfurt, located at Hauptstrasse 4.
The day’s itinerary features a firsthand look at conventional and organic chicory forcing operations and an exhibition showcasing more than 25 European companies. Additionally, the event will highlight technical advancements through a presentation of herbicide trials conducted by Agroscope, alongside live field demonstrations of automated weeding technology from Ecorobotix and Carbon Robotics.
Depending on how deep your love for chicory goes this may or may not be an event for you.
Nature’s Roast Chicory has replaced Reily Foods’ Coffee Partner Chicory
If you don’t have the time or money to travel to Switzerland but need a good chicory fix head over to Canseco or Zuppardo’s and pick up a packet of Reily Foods new chicory product.
For more information and registration: www.biennale2026.ch
RL Reeves Jr Recipe: How To Make Carne Molida in the spirit of Taco Tico
I was raised on chili. My mom regularly made a batch using red kidneys and ground beef. My grandma had an oddly wonderful take that featured white beans and green tomatoes. My aunts and uncles all knocked out kettles of the stuff and my dad? He made a version at the house for the wife and kids, but he saved the evil for his buddies at the volunteer fire department where he concocted a fierce, witches brew that would singe the brass stays off your Wranglers. I grew up on chili.
2026 Downtown Super Sunday Mardi Gras Indian Party
We ventured up to Bayou St. John earlier this spring to shoot the Mardi Gras Indians for their Downtown Super Sunday rolling street party. This is what we saw:
We get exactly one healthy dose of voodoo every year in New Orleans at 5am on Mardi Gras day when Voodoo Queen Kalindah Laveaux comes out of her Treme bungalow and leads a procession of priestesses through the streets of the 6th Ward.
It’s eerie, macabre and joyful.
This weekend, at events scattered across New Orleans, International Vodou Day will be celebrated in this northernmost outpost of the Caribbean. We are most excited to see Queen Nqwamary Janiqwa Nganga pour libations at the slave marker near the US Mint in the French Quarter.
During the dark days of US slavery, within a one-block radius of this marker, you would find roughly a dozen slave-trading firms operated out of bank-like offices, luxury showrooms, and private pens. Their business? Selling their fellow man into slavery.
Expect Queen Nqwamary Janiqwa Nganga to offer serious wisdom on these matters.
