The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is off and running. While plenty of people flock to the city for the bevy of musical artists from every genre … many others are there simply for the food. Ian McNulty, food writer for NOLA.com had an interesting spin on Jazz Fest by saying, “It’s a giant food festival and it turns out they put a bunch of stages around it and play music there too. It’s wonderful!”
Jazz Fest kicked off its 54th iteration on Thursday and will run until Sunday. Next weekend will keep the same schedule, with the festival wrapping up on May 4th. While musical artists from far and wide descend on New Orleans to perform for both locals and visitors, the food choices remain completely local. “The festival cultivates a great relationship with local, individual vendors who are not from out of town and that becomes a part of people’s rituals and traditions. Those traditions accrue and people adhere to those traditions and make them part of their annual Jazz Fest pilgrimage,” McNulty adds.
While locals and visitors alike may already have favorites in mind, they’re sure to find a new dish to add to the rotation. McNulty emphasizes that the well-oiled machine of Jazz Fest food service is a marvel within itself. “These are family run businesses, all restaurants and caterers. The ability they have to produce high quality food at the pace of grab-and-go street food comes from highly evolved systems they’ve developed over the years. There’s a lot of process and technique that goes into giving you that bowl or that plate in no time flat,” McNulty notes.