183. Robert B. Caldwell, Jr., Part 1. Choctaw-Apache Foodways.

183. Part 1 of our interview with Robert B. Caldwell, Jr. Robert is the author of Choctaw-Apache Foodways, which covers the Native American food of his home in Northwest Louisiana. The book is more than a collection of recipes; he also goes into the history and culture behind the food. Choctaw-Apache foodways are influenced by numerous cultural regions and ecological niches (river bottomland, southern forests, plains, desert) along the Camino Real de los Tejas (northeastern Mexico, Texas, Louisiana) and the culture region of the U.S. Southeast, as well as hundreds of years of cultural interactions between so-called “old world” and indigenous groups. The cuisine developed from a longstanding cultural exchange between tribes of the southwest and southeast, and the colonial-era Spanish and French.  These multiple food influences crossed cultural boundaries in the 18th and early 19th century to blend into a distinctive local cuisine that serves as an ethnic marker that sets this American Indian community apart from surrounding groups.

1. This week in Louisiana history. November 20, 1829. U.S. Army established western boundary defense post on Lake Charles.
2. This week in New Orleans history. November 19, 1909, Doris Zemurray Stone was born. She became an archaeologist and ethnographer, specializing in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and the so-called "Intermediate Area" of lower Central America. She served as the director of the National Museum of Costa Rica. Born 1909 in New Orleans, Doris Zemurray was the daughter of Samuel Zemurray, a Russian immigrant who founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company the following year. In 1917, Samuel Zemurray purchased and moved his family into a three-storey Beaux Arts mansion on St. Charles Avenue facing Tulane University, which would become the family home for the next four decades. In the early 1960s the mansion was transferred to Tulane where it became the residency of the University's presidents.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Minden Lights Spectacular
   November 19, 2016 - January 7, 2017
   5:00 pm - 10:00 pm
   Downtown Minden
   520 Broadway
   Minden, LA 71055
   318-377-2144, extension 43
   http://visitwebster.net/Calendar/Details/Old-World-Christmas-Lights-Spectacular
   The City of Minden kicks off this regional holiday event in historic downtown Minden on November 19 with fireworks at dusk.  The switch will be flipped to illuminate thousands of Christmas lights throughout the city beginning the Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights. Over 100 life-size nutcrackers will be on display. The light will remain on until January 7, 2017. For more information, contact Wanda Pittman at (318)377-2144 Ex. 43.

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