We invite our neighbors in the Tremé to get to know the museum by joining us for our monthly conversation series, where we serve calas, an old New Orleans tradition, uniquely prepared by a local chef.

Calas is a breakfast fritter mixed with cooked rice, flour, sugar, and spices, and then deep-fried. The word Calas was first printed in 1880, and is derived from African languages, such as the Nupe word kárá, or “fried cake.” African American street vendors sold fresh hot calas in the city’s French Quarter, with the familiar cry, “Calas, belles, calas tout chauds!”