History of the New Orleans' Muffaletta...

The Muffaletta originated at Central Grocery on Decatur St. in New Orleans, and it is still there. We took their recipe for their famous olive salad and made our own vegan version with vegan deli meats and vegan cheeses... GRAB n GO Vegan! style.

Welcome to our blog post about the history of New Orleans' Okra File Gumbo. New Orleans is a melting pot of cultures, just like its cuisine... Being a native of New Orleans, when I became Vegan I really missed all of my old favorites like Gumbo, Poboys, Stuffed Artichokes, Oyster Dressing, and so many other fabulous dishes. In researching how to re-create them into Vegan options, I started learning about the history of our New Orleans' Creole + Cajun Cuisines (Yes they are different). Creole derives from when we were under Spanish rule and Cajun derives from when we were under French rule. But actually there is a third + fourth .... African and Choctow cultures as well.... In our blog we will share our unique "melting pot" Heritage and re-create via GRAB n GO Vegan!

To this day, tourists and locals line up at both stores out into the street, waiting for their sandwiches.  Muffulettas are more than just sandwiches, they’re a tourist attraction, especially during Mardi Gras.

The Italian Market, the Central Grocery on Decatur Street, claims to have invented this sandwich in 1906.  Italian immigrant, Signor Lupo Salvatore, owner of the Central Grocery, started making the sandwiches for the men who worked the nearby wharves and produce stalls of the French Market.  The sign over the covered sidewalk proudly proclaims, home of The Original Muffuletta.

The Muffuletta is Italian in origin, but unique to New Orleans.

The term Muffuletta originally refers to round Sicilian sesame bread. Forerunners of today’s Muffuletta Sandwich first appeared in the French Quarter area among Italian immigrants as early as the 1890s, and was commonly found in hundreds of Italian Grocery stores throughout New Orleans. This makes the Muffuletta Sandwich even older than New Orleans’ beloved Po-Boy!

Marie Lupo Tusa, daughter of the The Central Grocery’s founder, tells the story of the sandwich’s origin in her 1980 cookbook, Marie’s Melting Pot:

One of the most interesting aspects of my father’s grocery is his unique creation, the muffuletta sandwich.  The muffuletta was created in the early 1900’s when the Farmers’ Market was in the same area as the grocery.  Most of the farmers who sold their produce there were Sicilian.  Everyday they used to come of my father’s grocery for lunch. They would order some salami, some ham, a piece of cheese, a little olive salad, and either long braided Italian bread or muffuletta bread covered with sesame seeds.

In typical Sicilian fashion they ate everything separately.  The farmers used to sit on crates or barrels and try to eat while precariously balancing their small trays covered with food on their knees.  My father suggested that it would be easier for the farmers if he cut the bread and put everything on it like a sandwich; even if it was not typical Sicilian fashion.  He experimented and found that the ticker, braided Italian bread was too hard to bite but the softer muffuletta bread was ideal for his sandwich.  In very little time, the farmers came to merely ask for a “muffuletta” for their lunch.