Abstract
The award-winning US television show Frank’s Place (1987–1988) deserves analysis not only for its groundbreaking focus on a working-class black community and its innovative ‘dramedy’ format, but also because the issues it raises remain relevant for televisual representation today. The critically acclaimed HBO series Treme (2010–2013) drew on Frank’s Place, and both shows incorporated restaurant culture into their plot lines, in which race and gender play an important role. New Orleans’s unique foodways are showcased in both series, highlighting the ways that television uses food culture to reflect and define a community. Using folklore, race and gender theory, this chapter explores the depiction of New Orleans food, focusing on changes in cultural and televisual sensibilities in the twenty-five-year span that separates Frank’s Place and Treme.
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Roberts, R. (2017). New Orleans, Food, Race and Gender on Television: Frank’s Place and Treme . In: Sanz Sabido, R. (eds) Representing Communities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65030-2_10
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