St. Joseph Altars Hardcover - 2003

From the jacket flap

Praise for Kerri McCaffety
"Kerri McCaffety's work is lush with natural light that makes the images sensual and rich, and transforms the places she photographs into poems." --Francis Ford Coppola

"Kerri is truly one of America's most exciting photojournalists."
--Emeril Lagasse

"McCaffety knows how to capture the fleeting beauty of a moment."
--Susan Larson, book review editor
New Orleans Times-Picayune

The old Sicilian legend tells that during the Middle Ages Saint Joseph sent rain to save the starving people from a severe drought. In thanks for answering their prayers, the Sicilians made offerings of the finest of their crops to honor their patron saint and to feed the poor--a display of food and faith that continues today.

This delicious and beautiful custom, La Tavola di San Giuseppe, came to America at the dawn of the twentieth century as immigrants formed what is still the largest Sicilian population in the United States in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 120 color photographs taken at thirty separate locations, Kerri McCaffety shows a sparkling array of Saint Joseph altars where flowers, candles, and photographs of lost loved ones crowd around statues of saints on three-tiered shrines piled with biscotti, pane, cuccidati, frittate, and pignolatti.

In addition to describing the spiritual symbolism of the foods found on the altar, this book includes recipes for the most important of the dishes, including a cannoli recipe from Emeril Lagasse. Nineteen recipes collected from local Saint Joseph aficionados, from a Sicilian grandmother to New Orleans' most famous chef, include traditional Italian cookies and sweets, baked fish--a reminder of Christ's Miracle of Multiplication--and bread believed to have the power to calm a storm.

Award-winning writer/photographer Kerri McCaffety captures the splendor and significance of this extraordinary ritual, introducing us not only to the beauty but also the cultural and historical importance of this ancient Sicilian tradition.
Kerri McCaffety is the first-place winner of the 1999 Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Award for a self-illustrated article. The New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association named McCaffety's first book, Obituary Cocktail, Book of the Year for 1998. Her second book, The Majesty of the French Quarter, was called "a vision to behold" by Gambit literary reviewer Julia Kamysz Lane and "easily one of the most handsome coffee table books in years" by the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger. The New Orleans Times-Picayune referred to her third book, The Majesty of St. Charles Avenue, as "fit for royalty." Etouffïż1/2e, Mon Amour: The Great Restaurants of New Orleans won the top food-photography honor from the New York-based Virtual Gourmet Newsletter. McCaffety, who studied anthropology at Tulane University, is regarded as New Orleans' top photographer and one of the great photographers in America.