It's New Orleans: Out To Lunch

For nearly 200 of our 300 year history, New Orleans has laid claim to being the birthplace of the cocktail. Whether or not that is strictly true, the cocktail is still a New Orleans icon. A company called New Orleans Beverage Group is helping to keep that tradition alive, and to update it, with their products, El Guapo Bitters, and cocktail syrups. The CEO of the New Orleans Beverage Group, Christa Cotton, joins Peter Ricchiuti on this edition of Out to Lunch. Back in the days before air conditioning, at the end of a hot day in New Orleans, all you could do was sit still and sip a drink. Today we spend as little time as we can outdoors in the heat. And we re handing that behavior on to our kids. Clare Loughran is looking to change that. Clare is the founder and director of NOLA Nature School, an educational institution that stresses the importance of being outdoors, with a nature based curriculum. Photos over lunch at Commander s Palace by Alison Moon.