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Gravy


A production of the Southern Foodways Alliance, GRAVY tells new and complicated stories about the changing American South.

Jan 11, 2018

When people think of New Orleans food, jambalayas, gumbos, and beignets usually come to mind. But with the arrival of thousands of Central American and Mexican immigrants after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Latin foods are increasingly present across the city…if you look in the right places. In 2011, Dix Jazz Market, part of a vending space colloquially calledLa Pulga, opened in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans. With over sixty individual vendors and booths, you can find anything from knockoff soccer jerseys to used record players. Thirty of the vendors sell prepared foods, from tacos and carne asada to sopas and the classic Honduran dish, pollo con tajadas. Success fromLa Pulga led to the opening of a second market—the Westbank Pulga—just three miles away.

Meet Ivan, a vendor at the Westbank Pulga, who uses his profits to fund a support group for LGBT Latinx in the New Orleans area.