New Orleans Superstar and Queen of Bounce Big Freedia Will Host City Park Cooking Show

The Queen of Bounce and New Orleans native Big Freedia will host a series of live, outdoor cooking demonstrations from New Orleans’s City Park every Thursday for the month of July, beginning this Thursday. While the (limited) number of tickets for the July 2 event are sold out, the weekly Garden Cookout with Big Freedia will be livestreamed on her website and social media.

Big Freedia will host the cookout-themed demonstrations in City Park’s botanical gardens in front of a small, socially-distanced audience. A press release teased dishes like You Already Know stuffed bell peppers, booty smac ’n cheese, and fresh grilled asparagus, all using herbs and vegetables from the edible garden.

Big Freedia has been a longtime tastemaker and influence in New Orleans’s food world, landing her own rosé in 2017 and developing plans for a cookbook. The New York Times published a list of her New Orleans restaurant recommendations last year, which included local favorites like Manchu, Neyow’s Creole Cafe, and the newer Morrow’s. She’s been live-streaming two cooking shows since quarantine started, “Whatcha Cooking Wednesdays” and “Sunday Gospel Brunch.” Of the garden cookout, she said “I am so excited to get people back together in an outdoor environment. To partner with City Park, who have been educating the public about gardening and food, is an honor.”

To purchase tickets for future events, see here, and check Big Freedia’s Facebook and Instagram for the livestreamed shows.

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