Taking a Moment to Experience New Orleans, with Bon Moment Tours

I recently had a beer with Michelle Mashon, founder of food tour company, Bon Moment Tours. Since 2016, she’s been showing visitors the locals’ side to New Orleans they won’t get on a standard corporate tour.

“I travel a lot and I want to ‘feel’ a city, experience the things that keep the people who live there, staying there,” she said. “Sharing that with people from all over, watching them begin to really appreciate this city in a more encompassing way, is the most rewarding part.”

She created original tours that take guests beyond the French Quarter --  like food tours of the Garden District and Marigny Bywater, and a tour of local breweries. She wants to show visitors “our dimensionality and complexity, and to tell those stories through food & drinks so they can understand our culture better.”

“That history through food & cocktails will tell the story of people and commerce that no one thought to write down into a book. Not the history that we trudged through in school- dates and battles and military conquerors- but the story of everyday people's lives and labor: of river workers and streetcar drivers and washerwomen and people just like us.”

It makes her sad when visitors “miss out on the essence of this city because they are so concerned with having the "perfect" New Orleans trip that they cram in lots of what they want to do in a short window of time and miss the most important part of a city like this." She said, "You're going to miss out if you only go where you're surrounded by tourists and you're going to miss out if you don't slow down and let yourself open up to the locals, who love to tell stories and chat.”

“I wish I could bottle for them the feeling of dancing in a second-line when your feet just take you to baptism by sweat. Then you stumble into a dive bar as the sun sets- with nowhere to be, you fall into a crazy, too long story from the bartender. Eventually, he tells you that his girlfriend's performing in the Bywater- she plays harpsicord in a puppet circus burlesque cabaret and you should go. After the show, you join your new friends and eat from the pop-up at the neighborhood bar, where the chef tells you all about growing up in the 9th ward and how he started to cook with his uncle and you should come to his restaurant tomorrow- they're having a crawfish boil. It's only because you were in the right place at the right time and let the city unwind before you that you understand the tagline "One time, in New Orleans..."

While you can’t plan the magical serendipity of our city, she offers a link on her website to help folks find tours and small, locally-owned businesses that she recommends. I got a taste of her great advice, with this tip for exploring Uptown:

“I'd send them to Magazine Street...to shop between St Thomas St and Napoleon Ave., then walk through Audubon Park to watch the sunset on the river and catch an Uber to eat at Jacques-Imos or Brigtsens before they go back on the St. Charles streetcar for the cheapest architectural homes tour in the city.”

Michelle and I had a chance to talk more during our meetings of the Bywater Marigny Business Organization, BYMBO.org. The group has been a great way of connecting with other great local businesses, behind common goals like safety, livability, and sustainability. It's been great to see just how many amazing and creative businesses operate in the neighborhood, to hear their stories, and learn from them.