Eatocracy is in Austin for SXSW and the third installment of the Secret Supper. Live blog coverage begins at 7:30.

"You got to hang out with Toesy? I'm jealous! She's so cool..."

Toesy, as it happens, is a chicken. Mention her name in a throng of Austin food bloggers or chefs, and everyone knows exactly where you spent your morning.

A scant two miles from the beep and thrum of the 25th annual South by Southwest music, film, and interactive conference and festival, a couple of farmers - and their celebrity livestock - are changing the way the city eats, one egg at a time.
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Eatocracy’s got boots on the ground at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, and we’re prepping for the third edition of our Secret Supper. While we're down here, we're immersing ourselves in the local tastes that not only “keep Austin weird” but also make it uniquely delicious.

Here’s what’s on the menu.
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When Leah Chase is about to speak, the whole room goes quiet.

Democratic strategist James Carville noted this from his perch at the faraway end of the dining room table at Eatocracy's Secret Supper last Thursday. Ms. Chase, seated at the center, stirred in her seat and Carville, along with the other 14 guests, stopped talking and craned in. When the 88 year old "Queen of Creole Cuisine" has words to share, they tend to be worth hearing.
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We're sort of pinching ourselves, to make sure last night's Secret Supper really happened. James Carville, Mary Matalin, Leah Chase, Bryan Batt, Poppy Tooker, Lance Nacio, a CNN Hero, a farmer, food activists, writers - all around the same table eating John Besh's food? Naw, that can't be real...

While we're collecting our thoughts, please enjoy the sweet song stylings of New Orleans musician Trombone Shorty and learn why he thinks it's akin to a big ol' pot of gumbo.

Eatocracy has been in New Orleans this week getting ready for the second edition of our Secret Supper, and it's finally dinner time in the Big Easy.

Democratic strategist and Louisiana native James Carville, along with his wife, Republican strategist and CNN political contributor Mary Matalin, have graciously welcomed us into their New Orleans home for this evening's soiree.

But tonight, it's more than just eating. Just as we have been all week, guests will be discussing the taste that defines the city - from oysters Rockefeller to your mother's gumbo - and how that taste helped a city cope in the aftermath of two disasters.

We’ve got a great line-up of guests including the “Queen of Creole Cuisine” Leah Chase, Bryan Batt of "Mad Men," local radio host and culinary activist Poppy Tooker, Captain Lance Nacio of Anna Marie Seafood, CNN Hero Derrick Tabb and many more.

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Laissez les bons temps rouler! Eatocracy is in New Orleans this week getting ready for the second edition of our Secret Supper. We'll be sharing the people, purveyors and places that make this such a significant food town, and hope you'll join in with your questions, memories, restaurant suggestions and general bonhomie.

Ten months after the BP oil disaster that spewed about 200 million gallons of crude into the ocean off the Louisiana coast, oysters are starting to make a comeback in New Orleans restaurants – a remarkable feat, considering that about half of the local oyster population was killed during the spill; and considering that a majority of Americans surveyed still express some squeamishness about eating seafood from the Gulf of Mexico.
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Y'all wanted to see the Cooking with Carville show? You got it.

Anything can happen in the Big Easy. See what happens when a celebrity chef and a political consultant come together over a big pot of mama's gumbo.
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"Where there is nuance, there is disagreement - and New Orleans food is very nuanced."

"Well, you've gotta have sh*t to talk about at the bar!"

Over at my pal Pableaux Johnson's house for Monday night red beans and rice, I laid my shame bare to the assembled crowd. I'd gotten smacked down on Twitter earlier that day for posting a photograph of the obviously warmed-up muffuletta sandwich I'd had for lunch.

Said the smashing Francis Lam (who's the editor of Salon Food and who's spent a goodly chunk of time in the Big Easy) "Argh! The warm muff!" and then "I just can't countenance a warm muffuletta, though I understand it has its fans."

Food writer and recent Brooklyn-to-New Orleans transplant Brett Martin piled on, "Hear, hear! I'll go further and say Ctrl Grocery or nothing."

I've got no problem admitting I don't know something - especially about food. It's a chance to learn. But, in a city like this where passions run to the frenzied, there are some things worth getting as close to right as possible.

To wit: po' boy, po-boy, po-boy, poor boy, peaux boy? Whaddaya call the French bread sandwich typically filled with fried seafood or roast beef and gravy? There are precedents for each; you lean toward which?

Laissez les bons temps rouler! Eatocracy is in New Orleans this week getting ready for the second edition of our Secret Supper. We'll be sharing the people, purveyors and places that make this such a significant food town, and hope you'll join in with your questions, memories, restaurant suggestions and general bonhomie.

The young man with the broad, gold-capped smile slammed the van door and picked up the microphone. "My name is Anthony, and I'll be your shuttle driver today. If this is your first time in New Orleans, there is one thing you need to know: eat all the food you can. You cannot go wrong with that."

Perhaps it's possible to find someone within the New Orleans city limits who is neutral on the subject of food – agnostic on the provenance of the city's best po-boy (or for that matter, how to spell it) and content with a frozen burrito on a Monday night when by all means they ought to be having red beans and rice. Chances are they just haven't been in town long enough for a local to set them straight, lead them by the hand to a proper coffee shop or sno-ball stand and then maybe on over to the house for Friday night gumbo.

Don't worry about them – it'll happen, because goodness, do New Orleanians love to talk…and argue……and educate…and opine about food. It's who they are, and what has kept them going, even when their very way of life was in danger of being swept away forever.
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