Back At The Track: More Jazz Fest Tales

Host Poppy Tooker with “Red Bean Queen” Judy Burks and Morris Douglas

It’s Week Two of the 2022 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and after a two-year hiatus, that’s something to celebrate! On this week's show, Louisiana Eats is back at the track with more stories of the food, fun, and feasting that's been going on there for half a century.

We begin with Louis Broussard, master electrician at Jazz Fest, who has been hanging around the grounds since childhood when his father worked there as a horse groomer. He shares incredible tales of his father’s Fairgrounds farm and the meals his mother made from it – from squab to stewed duck.

Then, Steve Armbruster joins us in the studio to tell the tale of how the first Food Heritage Stage came to be and how the backseat of his Volkswagen played an important role in those early years.

We also hear from Michelle Nugent, Jazz Fest’s food director. She explains what it takes to manage the Food Heritage Stage, along with all of the food vendors located around the festival.