Gift to aid N. Orleans eateries

NEW YORK — The James Beard Foundation has given the Gulf Coast Renaissance Fund a donation of $30,000 toward its efforts to help rebuild small, classic New Orleans restaurants destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The money for the donation was raised from proceeds from ticket sales to the 2006 James Beard Foundation Awards last May, which were a tribute to the culinary legacy of New Orleans.

The foundation's president, Susan Ungaro, recently handed over the check to John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, a not-for-profit institute that documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South.

After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast region last fall, the University of Mississippi-based Alliance established the Gulf Coast Renaissance Fund to help small independent restaurants with rebuilding efforts.

The Beard Foundation's donation has been earmarked to assist with the rebuilding of Willie Mae's Scotch House, a historic restaurant in the heavily damaged Treme neighborhood of New Orleans owned by 90-year-old Willie Mae Seaton.

The building, a traditional New Orleans "shotgun" structure, serves as the restaurant on one side and Seaton's home on the other side. Seaton was the 2005 recipient of the James Beard Foundation "America's Classic" Award. The award is presented to independent, locally owned and operated restaurants whose food and atmosphere reflect the unique culture of their communities.

Further information is available by phone at 662-915-5993, online at:

www.southernfoodways.com.