"See rare cookbooks, Southern menus from around the world, chefs' notes and more at the new Culinary Library in New Orleans," Deep South magazine noted in its profile of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum's official Culinary Library & Archive, which was conceived when the museum's "cookbook collection was reduced to the consistency of macque choux after Hurricane Katrina."
The 2,000-book collection was gradually rebuilt ("Fortunately the books were not rare books. They were books that are replaceable," said museum president Liz Williams), but "once word got out that SoFAB was in need of local cookbooks, donations started pouring in. After Katrina, the museum's collection was used to give locals access to the traditional recipes they had lost. But as it grew to more than 9,000 books, it became apparent that the collection was in need of a new home," Deep South wrote. In partnership with the New Orleans Public Library, SoFAB's Culinary Library & Archive opened in October.
