The Spring 2024 issue of Food & Dining Magazine is now available in all the familiar places: Louisville area eateries and food shops, newsstands and online.
It’s been a while since we checked in with Gastro Obscura, which is an expansive and delightful rabbit hole devoted to food, drink and eating.
Today, a look at what happens when Louisiana and Vietnam share a taste for chicory — as blended with their coffee beans: “Whether sipped next to the Mekong or the Mississippi, it’s delicious.”
The common denominator? French colonialism, but that’s a longer story for another day. There’s no paywall, so set aside a few minutes and explore.
The Secret Ingredient to America’s Vietnamese Coffee: Chicory blends from New Orleans provided a taste of home, by Anne Ewbank (Gastro Obscura)
The only reasonable accompaniment for a crispy beignet is a cup of milky café au lait, hot milk along with coffee. But not just any coffee. New Orleans has long favored a blend with an unorthodox element: chicory. Before the Vietnam War, this chicory-coffee mix had limited reach outside Louisiana. Chicory coffee might seem inextricable from New Orleans’ almost mythic history and unique culture. But now, it’s also distinctly Vietnamese-American. Through a number of caffeinated coincidences, the combination has spread across America’s Vietnamese coffee shops.
