Book Review: "Meanwhile, Back at Cafe' Du Monde"

March is Women's History Month and today I am sharing my review of a compilation book that came about as the vision of one of my favorite Southern ladies: Peggy Sweeney-McDonald. After a Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends several years ago, she tells of being inspired to bring people together to share their stories about Universal language, food, and how our lives revolve around it. From that vision came "Meanwhile, Back at Cafe' Du Monde". 

Peggy coined the phrase when she lived in New Orleans and her husband would say, “Everyone has their own “Café du Monde” as a metaphor for the place you always go to – your own comfort food place”. I count this amazing NOLA treasure among my favorite places in the world, so I was over the moon to see Peggy's homage to this one-of-a-kind place in the book title. What began as a series of stage monologue shows in 2010 and 2011 has become this beautiful book  from Pelican Publishing that is not only a wonderful cookbook, but an eye-catching coffee table book thanks to the photographic artistry of Troy Kleinpeter. I love that he captured many candid photographs that perfectly illustrate the spirit of the stories.

The book is filled stories of heartwarming and humorous memories, special times with family and friends along with the common bond of true comfort food at the heart of every story and there are 67 of them, each one just as delightful as the one before. I didn't read a single story without my dear late grandmother, Grandma Cleva coming to mind and one of our many precious memories together as I turned page after page of the stories. That sense of invoking precious memories with loved ones is a hallmark of this book. The recipes shared along with the stories are just as wonderful.  

During my recent trip to New Orleans, I saw this book displayed in a  French Quarter shop and I gleefully told the other customers in the store just how wonderful it is.

You can purchase the book through Amazon here.

Disclaimer: I was provided with an e-book copy of this book by Pelican Publishing and Peggy Sweeney-McDonald for the purpose of my honest review. I was not financially compensated for this review. All opinions stated in this blog post are my own.