-[Brandy] Hi, I'm Brandy Yanchyk, a Canadian journalist and documentary filmmaker who loves sharing stories about food, culture and history from all around the world.

On this adventure, I'm heading to St.

Tammany Parish in Louisiana in the southern United States.

This area has long been a favorite escape for those seeking a break from the busy city life of New Orleans.

-[man] That's wild!

[laughing] -[Brandy] Get ready to experience Louisiana in a whole new way.

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] I've come to St.

Tammany Parish, also known as the Northshore in Louisiana.

This place is 45 minutes away from New Orleans and is known for its waterways and green spaces.

I've come here because I want to learn about the parish's history and the people who call it home.

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] While I'm in Covington, I really wanted to try out the Tammany Trace.

It's a bike trail that connects the different areas in this community to each other.

And I'm here at the Brooks' Bike Shop, and I'm with Patrick Brooks.

He rents out bikes to people and takes them out on the Tammany Trace.

Patrick, tell me a little bit about your background.

Why are you so connected to bikes?

-[Patrick] My father never had a car.

The story goes that he wrecked a family car when he was 15 years old, and his father tore up his license, and he never drove again.

So growing up with my father, we got to learn about bicycles.

So me and my brothers from a very early age started working on bicycles, and it's kind of just kept going and growing.

-[Brandy] Okay, so when visitors come and they want to go on the Tammany Trace, can you tell me where exactly can you take them?

Which communities does it connect to each other?

-[Patrick] It starts here in Covington, then goes to Abita Springs, Mandeville, Lacombe and ends in Slidell.

-[Brandy] And when you take visitors like me out on the Tammany Trace, where do you take them?

-[Patrick] The most popular stops are the breweries.

A lot of people like to go to the nature areas and the parks and the lakes.

-[Brandy] All right, let's hit the trail.

-[Patrick] Let's go.

[quick upbeat music] -[Patrick] This is the trail head.

It's kind of the meeting hub of downtown Covington.

[chiming] [quick upbeat music] -[Patrick] So left is just straight out with the left hand.

Right is straight up with your left hand.

And then stopping is straight down.

-[Brandy] Okay.

Okay, so tell me a little bit about when you were a child and this trail.

What was it like?

-[Patrick] It was actually, the Greater Illinois Railroad line, and it, ran until about '88.

I remember as a young boy getting to watch the train go right down the street and it actually went by the front door of the bike shop.

In '88 it closed.

And about five years later, the Rails to Trails program picked it up and became the St.

Tammany Trace.

-[Brandy] Neat.

-[Patrick] So this bridge here is the bridge over the Abita River.

We'll stop right here, take a look at it.

It's fed in by our local Abita Springs.

And, according to ancient Choctaw folklore, it's said to have healing powers.

-[Brandy] Wow.

I got to get a taste of that river.

-[Patrick] There's a fountain in town.

You can have a sip.

-[Brandy] Oooh.

[laughing] [quick upbeat music] -[Patrick] Welcome to Abita Springs, Brandy.

This is probably the most popular destination on the Trace.

We are at the Abita Springs Brew Pub, which is the original Abita brewery, and without a doubt, the number one stop on the Trace.

-[Brandy] I bet because you're on the Tammany Trace and you're working up a nice thirst and you get here and you want to have a pint.

So cheers.

Thanks for... -[Patrick] Cheers to you.

-[Brandy] Teaching me about the nature and the history and all the wonderful things that I can learn about on the Tammany Trace.

And I want to come back in the future and try it out even longer.

-[Patrick] Salut.

-[Brandy] Salut.

-[Patrick] Ahh.

[quick dramatic music] -[Brandy] I really was interested in digging deeper into the Indigenous culture here in Louisiana.

So I've come to the Bayou Lacombe Museum in Lacombe and I'm with Karen Raymond.

She is from the Choctaw Nation herself, and she is also a volunteer at the museum.

Karen, when people come here, what can they learn?

What can they see that will teach them about the Choctaw people?

-[Karen] You can learn about the, I guess the migration of the not only the migration of the Choctaw people from Mississippi, but also the Indigenous people that lived here for, oh, documented over 3000 years ago.

At the museum, we provide not only the history of the Choctaw people in the area, but also the progression of where they are today in this community.

-[Brandy] Interesting.

So if you want to come here and celebrate the Choctaw Nation with you, if you're a visitor, when's the best time to come?

-[Karen] November is Native American Heritage Month.

So the month of November, we celebrate our Native American ancestry and Native Americans all around the world.

We have people that come in from Mississippi, from Florida, from Oklahoma and other parts of Louisiana to celebrate with food, with traditional dance.

-[Brandy] That sounds so interesting.

Well, thank you so much for teaching me about your culture.

And I look forward to walking through the museum and seeing more and learning more.

Thank you so much, Karen.

-[Karen] Absolutely.

Thank you.

-[Brandy] When you come to the Bayou Lacombe Museum, you can come out and see some of their living exhibits.

And I'm with Anthony Lott.

He is a volunteer, and he's also a member of the Choctaw Nation.

-[Anthony] Yes, ma'am.

-[Brandy] Anthony, what are we looking at here?

-[Anthony] We are looking at an authentic replica of a Choctaw summer home.

The summer homes didn't have walls.

And basically it is, a hip design roof.

-[Brandy] And what kind of material is this?

-[Anthony] This is palmetto, which is an indigenous plant to south Louisiana.

-[Brandy] It is tough.

-[Anthony] Yep.

You see, this is like a porch.

-[Brandy] Oh, yeah.

-[Anthony] You see the hip?

And you have your little porch area.

And it's actually a ventilation spot right there.

-[Brandy] Perfect.

-[Anthony] So if they were cooking or anything like that it would come up through that spot.

-[Brandy] Wow.

This would definitely shade you in that hot Louisiana sun.

-[Anthony] Yes.

And because of how it's built it's usually between 15 to 20 degrees cooler in here for the summer home.

-[Brandy] I believe it.

-[Anthony] And all this, all these palmettos are hand tied.

-[Brandy] Whoa.

-[Anthony] And we have probably over 3000 of them on here.

-[Brandy] Well, all I have to say is when you have to redo them, don't call me.

[laughing] It's a lot of work.

-[Anthony] It's therapy.

-[Brandy] Is it?

You enjoyed it?

-[Anthony] Definitely enjoyed it.

I mean, it wasn't just me.

It was the communities.

We all got together and, a little crew got together and took us probably off and on weekends about four months.

-[Brandy] Wow.

-[Anthony] To get this built.

-[Brandy] Incredible.

-[Anthony] And all natural stuff too.

-[Brandy] Wonderful.

Well, thank you so much for sharing with me your experience and all this information.

I really appreciate your time.

Thanks, Anthony.

-[Anthony] Thank you.

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] I love learning about the history of the places that I'm visiting.

So I've come to the city of Mandeville and I'm with Alia Casbourne.

She's the director of cultural affairs and events for the area here.

Alia, please tell me, how is the city of Mandeville founded?

-[Alia] The founder of the city, Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville, acquired property in this area from his family and other land grant families, and he decided he wanted to create a new city.

He hired a local surveyor to lay out the plan, and he had his first public auction in February 1834.

He invited his friends to come over and sold them on the idea of building summer homes here to escape the New Orleans summer heat.

-[Brandy] That's so interesting.

Can you tell me about this historical QR code trail that you've helped to create in the city?

-[Alia] Yes, the City of Mandeville has lots of historic landmarks.

We wanted to preserve that history, and we wanted to do it in a way to engage the community.

So we put QR codes on markers and we let the buildings tell their own stories.

-[Brandy] Okay, let's go see one of them.

[quick upbeat music] -[Alia] This is the trailhead QR code.

-[Brandy] And why is the trailhead museum so important?

-[Alia] Well, the trailhead is the hub of activity here in Mandeville.

It's where we have our concerts.

We have the weekly market.

Most of the events that take place in Mandeville take place right here at the trailhead.

-[Brandy] And if I want to use this QR code, how does it work?

-[Alia] Well, you use your phone or any device with a QR reader.

You scan, the history comes up along with a video that will read the history to you.

-[Brandy] That's great.

So you can even look at it later on at home if you want to go back and learn more.

-[Alia] Yes, you can take a virtual tour from your computer.

-[Brandy] Interesting.

Okay, let's do another one.

[quick upbeat music] -[Alia] This is the QR code for the Dew Drop.

The Dew Drop is the oldest unaltered jazz hall in the United States.

-[Brandy] Wow, it looks so wonderful from the outside.

I can just feel the history.

I can't wait to go inside.

Thank you so much for teaching me about the QR codes.

-[Alia] You're welcome.

Thank you.

-[Brandy] What a great idea!

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] I'm so excited to be inside the Dew Drop Jazz and Social hall.

The history, you can just feel it inside here.

Andrea and Chris, I'm thrilled to be talking to both of you.

Andrea Fulton is a member of the Friends of the Dew Drop, and Chris Thomas King is an award winning musician and author.

Can you tell me, Andrea, how are you connected personally to the Dew Drop?

-[Andrea] So my ancestors, lived here, right here in Mandeville, where we stand and, both, on both sides of my family, on my mother's side and my father's side.

I can only imagine that they celebrated things here, and that they were a part of the benevolence that began this hall, the goals of the organization that helped the people in Mandeville that needed help, during a time when they couldn't get insurance and they couldn't do a lot of things that other people were able to do.

The whole point of creating this, this organization was to, help those in need.

And so, so to be connected to that, not only through my ancestors, but specifically through a cousin of mine who owned this place at one time.

That's a, incredible inspiration for me.

And it makes me very proud.

-[Brandy] Absolutely.

And, Chris, you're a musician and an author.

Tell me what it's like to play here, because I understand you've actually played in the Dew Drop.

-[Chris] I've played here many times, and it's just, it's just amazing the experience.

It's so authentic because they've kept this thing pretty much like it was, you know, in the 1890s and, you know, the music that the musicians played here, just to give a definition, the blues is when we call the music blues.

We're still talking about jazz.

Jazz didn't come along until the 19... I mean, they didn't the word jazz didn't get attached to the music until around the late 1920s or so.

But in 1895, when the black musicians were here and they were playing their music, they called their music the blues.

And it's based on like, blue laws and things where people, you know, banning like Sunday, buying wine or you can't dance all these moral codes.

And this was blue music.

It was blue entertainment.

And it doesn't mean when I use the word blues, it doesn't mean that it's too sad, down in the dumps and melancholy.

It means that it's sacré bleu.

Or that it's like this French Creole term that says that this is a good time music or Saturday night music.

So anyway, they would have a good time here.

And it was for a good cause, you know, trust that.

But I grew up in my dad's juke joint and then my dad's juke joint I experienced this culture from a teenager, you know, on up.

We had that place for about 25 years.

And as I went out and tour around the world, I realized that I, that story was not being told.

It was being told that the blues came from Mississippi or that it there was some other folklore involved, and I wanted to get down to find out the true story of it.

And so I wrote a book called The Blues: The Authentic Narrative of My Music and Culture, which captures everything that this place represents.

You know, that the blues began, jazz began in the 1890s here in Louisiana, and this place is a still a standing symbol that represents that.

And it's just amazing that we can still have dances here.

We can still come in here for educational purposes and come in here to really keep this culture going.

And it's a beautiful thing.

And I'm just happy to be a part of it and happy to have grown up in it.

And I appreciate that more and more as time goes on.

-[Brandy] Thank you so much for spending time with me.

And I'm just thrilled that this place is still standing and we can enjoy it and even imagine what all of those people celebrated and continue to celebrate.

Thank you all.

-[Andrea] Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

-[Chris] ♪ Down in New Orleans, where the Blues was born, ♪ ♪ you can still hear the sound of Buddy Bolden's horn.

♪ ♪ From the back of town too down to Esplanade.

♪ ♪ Form a second line join my parade.

♪ ♪ I say the Blues was born in Louisiana, ♪ ♪ not Mississippi or Texarkana.

♪ ♪ I said the Blues was born in Louisiana, ♪ ♪ not Mississippi or Texarkana.

♪ [quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] While I'm here in Mandeville, I really wanted to try Southern Louisiana cooking.

So I've come to Pat's Rest Awhile and I'm with Pat Gallagher.

He owns four restaurants, is the top chef here, and he's from Louisiana, actually the area.

Pat, tell me, how did you start these restaurants?

-[Pat] I was doing nursery work in Folsom, north of Covington.

And, I became very enamored with my hot plate lunch every day.

In the middle of the day.

So we decided to open a cafe up in downtown Folsom serving plate lunches and, fried fish and steaks at night.

-[Brandy] And how much were those plates?

-[Pat] A dollar seventy-five.

-[Brandy] A dollar seventy-five, okay.

-[Pat] And that included tea and dessert.

-[Brandy] Wow.

So how did you go from a dollar seventy-five plate lunches to four restaurants on the Northshore?

-[Pat] And it's been it's been quite a journey.

You know, on my own for several years.

I worked at Ruth's Chris as the executive chef for them for 4 1/2 years after Hurricane Katrina.

And, that was a great learning experience for me and then decided to open my own place again in 2009.

We opened Gallagher's Grill in Covington.

A couple of years later, we opened Pat Gallagher's 527 Restaurant in Mandeville and Gallagher's on Front Street in Slidell.

And then, three years ago, we opened Pat's Rest Awhile here in this location.

-[Brandy] Tell me about the history of the buildings that were here on this property that is part of Pat's Rest Awhile.

-[Pat] The building's date, the one we're in here dates to 1850.

-[Brandy] Wow.

-[Pat] The main building is 1880.

It was called the Frapart Hotel back in the 1890s.

People would take the steamer across and spend the weekends over here from the city.

The other two buildings are 1918.

-[Brandy] And why do you call it Pat's Rest Awhile?

-[Pat] The Rest A While was the original historic name with the Sons and Daughters of the King when it was a retreat, it was called Rest A While.

-[Brandy] Oh so you kept the name.

-[Pat] Yeah.

-[Brandy] Wow.

So while I'm here and I'm at your restaurant, what recipe should I order?

What dishes do you think are really connected to southern Louisiana cooking?

-[Pat] Well, we're going to start with some Chicken and Andouille Gumbo.

-[Brandy] And what's Andouille?

-[Pat] Andouille is a local smoked sausage.

A little different than a ground pork sausage.

It's a little chunkier.

But it's, known throughout south Louisiana.

-[Brandy] Oh, I can't wait.

Okay, let's jump in.

Oh, I see lots of chunky sausage here.

Mmm.

That is good, Pat.

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] What do you like about it?

[quick upbeat music] -[Pat] Got that spice that hits the back of your throat.

-[Brandy] Mmhmm, peppery.

-[Pat] Mmhmm.

-[Brandy] How long would it take you to cook something like this?

-[Pat] Well you start with the roux.

Which is what many Louisiana dishes start with.

-[Brandy] That's like the bottom where you get that brown.

-[Pat] That's right.

-[Brandy] Brown color, right?

-[Pat] And you've got to be patient with it because if you're not it can burn very easily.

And and it's ruined at that point.

-[Brandy] Mmhmm.

Is there any secrets to the roux?

-[Pat] Patience.

-[Brandy] Okay.

-[Pat] And you want to get it a nice dark dark color.

There's the fun edge to going too far and burning it.

-[Brandy] It's so tasty.

Mmm.

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] Wonderful.

Okay.

So what else are we going to try.

-[Pat] Well I want you to try our bourbon glazed pork chop.

-[Brandy] It looks incredible.

How is this connected to Louisiana?

-[Pat] Well the bourbon glaze is is, is made with, some honey.

We, shallots.

And we deglaze it with some bourbon, reduce it down, add a little bit of honey to it, a little bit of cream at the end, to, tighten it up.

-[Brandy] Sounds incredible.

And it looks beautiful.

I'm almost scared to touch it, but not that scared.

I'm going in.

-[Pat] Let's do it.

-[Brandy] Let's do it.

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] Mm, mmm!

It's very sweet.

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] And juicy.

I like the pecans.

Mmm!

That's a very Louisiana thing isn't it?

-[Pat] Yeah, well, pecans are everywhere around here.

-[Brandy] And these potatoes.

-[Pat] Fingerling potatoes.

-[Brandy] And how do you cook those ones?

-[Pat] Slow cook them in the oven.

-[Brandy] I have to say the whole time I've been in Louisiana, I've been eating.

[chuckles] -[Pat] Well, they say in Louisiana, people are either talking about what they're eating now, what they ate last night, or what they're going to eat tomorrow.

-[Brandy] And that you gained a pound each day.

-[Pat] Yeah.

I heard that one.

Well, Pat, I have to ask you, what's in this drink here?

-[Pat] This is, a rum daiquiri with banana simple syrup and banana liqueur.

-[Brandy] Well, people know how to have fun in Louisiana.

-[Pat] Yes we do.

-[Brandy] Well, thank you for inviting me here, Pat, and for teaching me about your Louisiana cooking.

-[Pat] It's a pleasure to have you with us.

-[Brandy] Thank you.

-[Pat] You're welcome.

-[Brandy] Mmm, that is delicious.

[quick upbeat music] -[Brandy] I love meeting entrepreneurs.

So I traveled around 32 miles to the charming Tangipahoa Parish.

I found the perfect place to quench my thirst.

I've come to Gnarly Barley Brewing in Hammond, Louisiana.

And I'm with Cari and Zac Caramonta.

They started this company in 2014.

First they were home brewing, and now it's become one of the fastest growing breweries in the United States.

I'm seeing this funky feeling with the beer cans and the designs and the names.

What is that all about, Zac?

-[Zac] You know, we're kind of in the very beginning.

What's the name, Gnarly Barley, we're all skateboarders and that kind of community, has a tendency to not take themselves too seriously and just have a good time with life and what they do.

And so that is something we brought into the brewery as well, is that we like to enjoy what we do.

We brew, we love to drink, and we, you know, we label our beers as, as as we want to label them.

And we come up with fun, funky names.

-[Brandy] Awesome.

Okay, we've got four beers in front of us.

Cari, what's the first one we're going to drink?

-[Cari] The first one we're going to have is Catahoula Common, and it is a lager and it is, atypical fermentation.

So Zac can explain a little bit more about that.

But it is a delicious, refreshing beer that we love to drink here in Louisiana.

Cheers.

-[Brandy] Cheers to that.

It's so tasty, Zac, how would you describe this?

-[Zac] So this was our first of the lighter offerings that we offered from the beginning of the brewery.

We went with a hybrid kind of beer.

It's, it's a lager, brewed at slightly warmer temperatures.

So you're going to get a little more of, of the complexity and the fruitiness of, warmer fermentation.

But yet, crisp, easy drinking lager at 5% alcohol.

So real nice and easy, but yet, you know, a little brightness, a little complexity from the, the malts and whatnot.

And so you kind of have a little bit of everything.

-[Brandy] I like it a lot.

I think I could drink this, on a hot day, chilling out with my friends.

If I had a pool, maybe by a pool, maybe at a campground.

[laughing] -[Cari] Or in Louisiana in general, because it's always hot.

-[Brandy] Mmhmm!

So, what's the second one?

-[Cari] The second one is Skater Aid, and it is an Italian pilsner.

And obviously there's a ring to that name.

But Skater Aid gives back to local skate board initiatives.

So we are, a fan of local skateboarding community.

So we wanted to give back.

And this is a very another very easy drinking beer, which obviously, if you're skateboarding all day in this heat, you're going to want something refreshing.

So we wanted to bring this on board as our, flagship beer.

So... -[Brandy] Wow, I've never heard of an Italian pilsner.

-[Zac] So an Italian pilsner is, you know, it was a popular beer style while back.

It's kind of come and gone, but, it's very similar to a Czech pils.

It's very crisp.

Refreshing, but it has a little bit of dry hop, which adds a little bit of a tiny bit of citrus, more earthy, and a tiny bit of pine.

So you get that nice, crisp, refreshing lager or pilsner.

-[Brandy] And you know what?

I literally can taste the earthiness.

It does taste different.

Mmm.

Very tasty.

Okay.

This third one here, which is like a cloudy type of beer.

Tell me about that one.

-[Cari] It's a hazy, juicy IPA named Jucifer IPA.

-[Brandy] Jucifer.

Okay, I love the name.

IPA which is very popular.

-[Cari] Yeah, India Pale Ale, but it's very easy drinking for an IPA.

-[Brandy] Mmhmm.

-[Zac] It is our bestselling beer.

Our main flagship.

It is a beer that has special place in my heart.

This is my favorite beer that we currently produce on a regular basis.

It's going to be citrus forward.

It's got a nice, almost kind of orange juice texture.

It's got a little bit of cloudiness, as you see, which creates kind of some acidity and some turbidity, which gives you kind of that idea of a mimosa or, or a little bit of orange juice kind of addition to it.

People think that we have grapefruit in the beer.

We do not have any fruits or grapefruit in the beer.

But it's, it's all derived from the hops.

So it's going to be hop forward, mostly going to be citrus hops, like I said a little bit of grapefruit.

Easy on the back end.

Smooth.

It's not very bitter for a happy beer as the style is, is is very nice and light on that side.

So approachable if you're not really into bitter IPAs, but at the same time, it has everything that you need as a true IPA drinker to enjoy the beer.

-[Brandy] And the final one here.

-[Zac] This was my first homebrew recipe that I created, wrote from scratch.

I did it for a contest for, an original homebrew.

I was only home brewing for a couple of years before that and decided to write this recipe.

Specifically for, it was for a dark beer.

By using lager yeast, we're gonna create something that's roasty upfront.

It has a little bit of, a of touch of coffee, almost, very light bitterness, almost.

No dark bitterness.

But then finishes very light and easy drinking.

So it kind of hits all those notes that I was looking for in a dark beer here in warm, humid Louisiana.

-[Brandy] So delicious.

Mmm.

Well, thank you so much for teaching me about your beer.

I've learned a lot and I'm just curious what's the dreams for the future?

-[Zac] Well really, you know we, we plan for a growth and growth of the brewery and it's, it's gone beyond our wildest imaginations at this point.

And you know, we have a saying here in Louisiana, "lagniappe", you know, and while I will never, turn away from growth, but from here on out, really, it's just it's all "lagniappe".

It's all the extra.

We've kind of achieved what we wanted to, and as our staff, steers us and our crew steers us in the right direction, our community, asks for new things.

We'll continue to do that and continue to innovate.

-[Brandy] Cool.

Well, cheers to "lagniappe".

Never heard that before.

Congratulations.

-[Cari] Thank you.

-[Brandy] I've learned a lot about the Northshore.

This is a beautiful place with wonderful people who take pride in their history and culture.

[quick upbeat music]