Learn about food and history at the next SAGE Lecture on Oct 12

Dr. Justin Nystrom

From Staff Reports
The Contraband

The McNeese State University SAGE program will continue its fall 2015 series with a lecture by Dr. Justin Nystrom titled, “A Road Paved With Oyster Shells: Sicilian Immigrants and the Emergence of the New Orleans Restaurant” from 3-4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, on the second floor of the McNeese SEED Center.

Whether it’s crawfish, oysters on a half-shell or gumbo, New Orleans is known far and wide for its Creole food, but how did the city’s unique cuisine become what it is today? The lecture will explore the international influences on New Orleans cuisine through immigration in its early years and how it evolved into the Creole food New Orleans is known for today.

Nystrom received his doctorate in American history from the University of Georgia. He is an assistant professor of history at Loyola University New Orleans, where he teaches courses on Civil War and Reconstruction, the New South, New Orleans History and Historiography, and is co-director of the Center for the Study of New Orleans.

Nystrom also writes and makes films primarily about New Orleans.

He founded the department’s Documentary and Oral History Studio, which has become a vehicle for both student and faculty research.

His first book, “New Orleans After the Civil War: Race, Politics and a New Birth of Freedom,” explores the lives of New Orleanians in an age of political and social upheaval.

His forthcoming book, “Creole Italian: How Sicilian Immigrants Transformed the Culture of America’s Most Interesting Food Town,” traces Sicilian immigrants from their first arrival in New Orleans in the 1830s and explores the evolution of food businesses in the Big Easy.

For more information on cost or to register, call 337-475-5616 or visit www.mcneese.edu/leisure.