Queen of Fish Fries
Fish fry, Courtesy of the State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory Project
Here's another story from our series on culinary entrepreneurs. The story comes from the records of the Great Depression’s WPA's America Eat's project. I produced the content in a paraphrased format when necessary to make them legible and indirect quotes as often as possible. In New Orleans people called Elizabeth Henry of Garfield Street “Queen of Fish Fries.” During the Depression she fried fish in a cast-iron skillet and sold them to raise bail money for folks from her neighborhood. Historically women also used the cast-iron skillet to defend themselves against intruders and abusive men.
