NEWCOMER TO THE BAYOU
Asian fish sauce? Admittedly, it’s an unconventional idea. And here’s the cool part: New Orleans has a well-established Vietnamese community; it began after the fall of Saigon. As far as we know, we’re the first to put fish sauce in gumbo, but there’s no question that these new immigrants to New Orleans are having an impact on the city’s storied food traditions: They’ve tossed lemon grass into crawfish boils, organized a farmers’ market with such exotic items as ngo gai (an herb), banana buds, and longan fruit, and put the banh mi sandwich on the city’s must-eat food list, right there next to the city’s signature po’ boys.