A new launch enters the parade Tuesday fat: the cookbook

They throw a lot from the New Orleans carnival parades: plastic pearls and stuffed animals, sparkling shoes and duplicates, swords and luminous toilet divers. But cooking books?

The Krewe Da Bhan Gras, a group that has played Bhangra, Bollywood and other South Asian dances in parades for three years, has given a thousand this season. Thin cookbooks have 18 family recipes-a real who’s who of the South Asian dishes, from Chana Masala to Beatum Bhaja to the Sri-Lankan love cake.

Food has long been a favorite gift during carnival celebrations in New Orleans. The most famous, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club distributes coconut meticulously decorated, as has been its tradition since 1910. You could catch a mixture of Moonpie or donut during a parade while you are looking at a dance troop with a double entry name Shimmy by.

But cooking books are something new, according to Arthur Hardy, the founder of Tuesday Gras Guide, now in his 49th annual edition.

Launchers, as well as the trinkets of the parade are known, dates back to the late 1800s, when candy, peanuts and candies were thrown into tanks, said Hardy. The REX organization, which will parade Tuesday, introduced glass pearl necklaces in the 1920s, and in 1960, aluminum duplicates, which Mr. Hardy always considers a perfect launch because he includes the date, theme and organization of parade in a small memory.

“In a very small circle, you had everything you needed to commemorate your visit to the city and to this parade,” he said. “It was a wonderful memory.”

Today, the Krewes have become known for a signature throwing, and some of the largest parades have signature throws for each float, with collectors competing along the route to catch everyone. “Each organization tries to have something unique,” said Hardy, “and it’s a competitive battle for the bling.”

The kitchen book was designed by Jayeesha Dutta, 47, a member of Krewe of Bhan Gras. It was a natural choice for this group of around 100, including many doctors and health professionals, because the organizers met for the first time through a group of meals-shaping for South-Asians in New Orleans. Ms. Dutta said these dinners were “a very diasporical experience”.

In 2023, the first year that the Krewe of Bhan Gras Dancers went down the streets, they gave spices, like the Bengali mixture with five Panch Phoron spices, as well as a QR code connecting to a digital kitchen book of eight recipes. “We stopped doing this because the spice packages exploded in people’s bands packs,” said Dutta. “It was messy.”

This year’s cooking book was procuresed, and the dancers gave it to spectators for four parades, as well as 1,000 magnets with a cellar recipe and some 20,000 bracelets.