Red beans and rice are part of Monday night tradition in New Orleans. For most people in most cities, Monday signifies the end of the weekend and the start of a new work week. However, in New Orleans locals know that they can look forward to the very tasty Monday traditions. The custom is so widespread in the city that some of the locals call it the ‘Red Bean City'. Monday used to be laundry day and beans were soaked on Sunday and slow cooked the next day while doing laundry and other chores. Today Monday may not be popularly known as laundry day in most homes, but rice and beans appear on the menus in most homes.
Red beans and rice is an emblematic dish of New Orleans. The basic recipe of the food requires what is locally known as the “holy trinity”. This is made up of celery, onions and parsley. One can also add garlic; a lot can be done with garlic. The beans are washed and soaked in fresh cold water overnight. They are then cooked at varying lengths of time depending on the cook's preference. However, it is common to find most cookers in New Orleans cooking it all the way down until they are creamed (Hardman, 2014). This makes New Orleans’ style of the red beans unique. The version often includes pickled or smoked pork.
Origin
After the slave uprising in Louisiana in the 1790s sugar plant owners had fled to New Orleans, it is likely that these individuals made their way into the city with the red beans. This food source was easy to grow, harvest and store, it soon became popular and the culinary tradition in New Orleans.
Associations and Cultural Uses
One would quickly ask how did red beans and rice become so associated with New Orleans? The answer to this may not be definitive, but some factors make the dish a popular one in the city. The food is easy and cheap to prepare just like many other iconic foods and can feed a large number of individuals at once. Most people cook it for a crowd or a family which means that it is a dish to be shared (Wilk & Livia, 2012). It is this communal aspect of the dish that makes it popular among the city residents. Beans are also one of the most nutritious food substances available out there and are an efficient source of energy.
Just a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin confidently equated food with home by predicting the return of the residents to the city. He used the language of food to metaphorically link food to home in most of his public addresses. Red beans and rice was apparently a symbol of New Orleans’s authenticity and distinctiveness as well as the dish that most of the displaced individuals missed most. A few weeks after the hurricane some of the famous chefs set up operations outside their destroyed restaurants and prepared large quantities of beans and rice for the few remaining locals, journalists and first responders (Tucker, 2009).
There was a tradition where mothers cooked red beans in huge pots on Monday and shared it with the relatives who would then feed their families. This tradition still continues today. Some of the excess beans are frozen in plastic containers. When the children move from the parents’ house, they are given several red beans containers to reheat for the first few dinners. This emphasizes the sharing and communal aspects associated with the dish.
Old habits die hard. Rice and beans will continue to be a part of New Orleans’ culture. The residents enjoy the meal and will continue to observe the weekly tradition of consuming red beans and rice on Mondays. The dish is easy to prepare and has a high nutritional value as well as an excellent source of energy which makes it popular with the locals. Rice and beans will remain a part of New Orleans' identity.
References
Hardman, J. (2014, October 11). ‘Red Beans and Ricely Yours’. Retrieved 23rd February 2016 from http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/nola-rice-and-beans/
Tucker, S. (2009). New Orleans Cuisine: Fourteen Signature Dishes and Their Histories. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi.
Wilk, R. & Livia B. (2012). Rice and Beans: A Unique Dish in a Hundred Places. London: Berg Publications.
