Raise a glass to Southern food
By Jerry Shriver, USA TODAY
Okra, your moment has arrived. Moon Pies, Sazerac cocktails and shrimp Creole, prepare to be ennobled. Colonel Sanders, readjust your string tie.

A group of food enthusiasts in New Orleans has announced plans for a Southern Food and Beverage Museum. "It's designed to be a celebration of the food of the American South, covering the culture, the ethnic groups that have created it, the industry that grows and processes it, and the cooks who make it," president Elizabeth Williams says.

She and a group of investors are raising money and searching for a home for the museum in the city, which they hope to open next year. For now, they've just unveiled a preview exhibit called A Toast of New Orleans in a temporary space at the City Centre (running through August). It showcases the history and deep affinity between New Orleanians and their beverages.

"We hope that, in addition to exhibits, we can teach and entertain," Williams says. Me oh, my oh: New Orleans hosts Southern food museum

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