The Gulf Coast Food Project as three primary projects currently underway: Houston Eats, La Louisane en Tejas, and Women in Food. Please read more about these below. You can learn more about these projects by clicking on the titles, which will take you to the main website.
Houston Eats consists of documentary film projects telling food stories in and about the city of Houston. Being the most diverse city in the United States, along with the fourth largest, Houston has an incredibly rich and diverse food scene and history. By documenting some of these stories, we hope to share the Houston food world with you.
This project consists of personal histories on the influence of Cajun and Creole foodways on the food history of East Texas. Focusing on Houston, Port Arthur, Orange, and Beaumont, as well as places in between, we hope to interview home cooks, restaurateurs, fishermen, farmers, hungers, forgers, and anyone else who offers a window on the rich world of Gulf Coast foodways. The interviews will eventually be part of a larger online archive that will include photographs, short films, recipes, and other materials that will promote the region’s food history.
Women have played significant roles in food production, distribution, and education—from their own kitchens to the kitchens of some of the finest restaurants in Houston. These research projects endeavor to preserve those rich histories. Each project contains an oral history interview with notable Houston women involved in all facets of food (including restaurateurs, chefs, food writers, educators, and advocates). Central to this project is an exploration of how gender has shaped women’s experiences in the food industry: What specific challenges and opportunities do women encounter? Is the professional food industry a “man’s world”? How have women challenged, adapted to, and transformed the world of food? What are their unique perspectives and experiences?
