New Orleans resident Liz Williams can recall her earliest memory of Creole cream cheese: her grandmother would bring it in from the milkman while Williams foraged in the backyard for fresh figs and berries to sprinkle on top.
Williams, who is now the president of the National Food and Beverage Foundation, says that no one knows exactly who created this New Orleans staple. But this regional type of tart farmer cheese has been a fixture in many Big Easy homes since the 1800s. During the popularization of yogurt in the ’40s, Creole cream cheese — which was often eaten with sugar and fruit — disappeared from the breakfast table. Only in the past decade has this long-ago staple made a resurgence in restaurants.
“People stopped buying Creole cream cheese when yogurt became popular, so dairy farmers stopped manufacturing it,” Williams said. “But in the ’80s New Orleans chef Poppy Tooker started teaching people how to make it in all her cooking classes so that it wouldn’t be forgotten.”
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