Rebuilding a New Orleans Community with
Good Food & Music: The Tremé Table
Project
An Interview with Dr. Nancy Mock
By Paul Kadetz
March 2007
Tulane University is involved in more community projects than can be listed
on this page. The aftermath of Katrina and the subsequent flooding of New
Orleans have kept Tulane’s volunteers busy. One new project, the Tremé
Table Project, is noteworthy in its creative approach to invigorate a neglected
New Orleans neighborhood and promote health.
The New Orleans neighborhood of Tremé is one of unusually rich cultural
heritage. Originally known as a French-speaking community and as America’s
oldest black neighborhood, it evolved into one of the first multiracial
districts in the early 19th century. For freed slaves to acquire,
purchase, or even own property was remarkable for an era in which the United
States was still immersed in slavery. Among other noteworthy firsts, Tremé
is known as the home of the first African-American newspaper, the first
African-American Roman Catholic Parish, the first literary salons (at a time in
this country when teaching blacks to read was illegal), the first anthology of
African-American poetry, as well as the home of a cornucopia of famous jazz
musicians. In spite of this rich history, Tremé is also characterized by
the poverty that has prevailed since the 1960s. This neighborhood suffered
more than many in post-Katrina New Orleans, by virtue of its pre-storm
vulnerabilities.
Several divisions of Tulane University, including the School of Architecture,
the Department of Sociology and the School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
have committed to addressing the needs of this neighborhood. Dr. Nancy
Mock, DrPH (Yale ’76), is a professor in the Department of International Health
& Development at the Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. Dr.
Mock was a founder of Tulane’s International Health & Development Department and
has extensive professional experience in disasters and recovery. She has
been involved in community action research post-Katrina, specifically in Tremé,
including surveillance of community needs and a community food pantry that has
aided more than 3000 families in need. Initial assessments have pointed to
the need for interventions that engender sustainable solutions. To this
end, Dr. Mock has developed The Tremé Table Project. The objective of the
project is to improve the health and nutrition of Tremé families and strengthen
the cultural heritage of its members, thereby empowering the community and
mobilizing community involvement.
The project is proposed in several phases. Phase 1 is the compilation
of a “cookbook” of Tremé residents’ healthy recipes and oral histories. In
Phase 2, proceeds from the book will be applied to a Community Café project at
St. Augustine’s Church in Tremé. Musical events and cooking classes will
also be held at St. Augustine’s. Phase 3 will include workshops on
preventative health care and nutrition at the Community Café, promoting future
health.
Dr. Mock, could you tell me the impetus for this project?
Well, it was actually rather serendipitous. When Katrina struck, I
queried my students and several of them wanted to work with me in post-Katrina
New Orleans doing recovery work. As soon as we were able to get back into
the city we organized internally, working out of my house. Initially upon
returning, we assessed neighborhoods for needs. I targeted Tremé because
of its historical significance and what I perceived to be an opportunity for a
major turnaround. We began to work with Father Ledoux, a community leader
at St. Augustine’s Church. Also, a Tulane student from Second Harvest Food
Pantry called me asking if I knew of locations that were in need of a food
pantry. I immediately thought of St. Augustine’s. My students were
very instrumental in opening and running the food pantry. The work was greatly
facilitated by contacts provided to me by Bethany Bultman, co-founder of the New
Orleans Musicians Clinic [which provides access to health and social welfare
services to the local music community] who suggested a joint cultural and public
health project. From there the social network evolution of this project
was very organic. The French Consulate provided initial seed money.
How do you envision a project like this will be valuable to
post-Katrina New Orleans?
We are seeking to revitalize this community by reestablishing the central
importance of the table in family life. A problem with public health as a
field is a rather unbalanced focus on public policy, which may overlook
behavioral interventions and lifestyle. Experience has taught me that for
an intervention to be sound and efficacious the population must be addressed
holistically. A community should be understood as a complex ecosystem in which
interventions are built on the strengths of its members. People are more
than the sum of their indicators and there is more to helping a community than
where you place the sidewalk.
Why specifically a cookbook?
Well, it is actually much more than a cookbook. Yes, there will be
local recipes that focus on good nutrition, but it will also be an oral history
of this community. We want to celebrate this community and create an
historical record of an important and significant culture. We are trying
to capture perishable history. Furthermore, we would like to provide a
written project for schools to include in their curriculum. Finally we
need a commercial dimension for raising funds for later phases of the project.
We are planning for all proceeds from sales of the book to be reinvested into
the project. In this manner we are planning for the project to remain
sustainable.
How is this project different from your other projects and research?
This is a project to improve health and development through cultural
revitalization of family-centered food and music. This requires an
understanding of social and behavioral changes as part of a community ecosystem.
Recovery allows you to restore a community to a time when things were working
well. You are mining for strengths in cultural traditions in order to
perpetuate strength and engender empowerment. People are seeking an
anchor. This offers an opportunity to bring back a community in a better
way.
The project has received initial funding from the French Consulate and
in-kind support from Tulane University. Other partners include the New
Orleans Musicians Clinic, and the Food and Beverage Museum of New Orleans.
Paul Kadetz is currently completing his MPH in International Health & Development at Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. He is an Adult Nurse Practitioner and a Licensed Acupuncturist.
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