It's New Orleans: Louisiana Eats

On the cusp of Carnival, the traditional meat celebration before the Lenten fasting begins, we re hosting our very own meat celebration. We begin by joining Isaac Toups at Toups Meatery for a viewing of Top Chef and a chat about the highs and lows of competing in the nationally televised cooking competition. Then, we pack our overnight bags for a whole hog barbecue sleepover at The Southern Food and Beverage Museum, home of the Louisiana Eats studio. 10 lucky participants got to spend the night tending the whole hog barbecue with Dr. Howard Conyers, a South Carolina barbecue expert and NASA rocket scientist by day We hear from Robert Moss, contributing barbecue editor for Southern Living magazine, and Dr. Conyers about the enduring tradition of whole hog barbecue. After we get a taste of South Carolina barbecue, we take a trip up to Shreveport to savor the North Louisiana barbecue innovations of pit master Carolyn Simmons at her restaurant Blue. Next, we examine the intersections of food and race in Southern