Photographer travels for the love of gumbo

Food photographer Steve Adams traveled from his studio in Maplewood to New Orleans last year to help capture the essence of gumbo.Adams was chairman of the photographers and food stylists section of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, which held its 2008 meeting in New Orleans. The day before the official start of the meeting, Adams and about 50 members of that section spread out across New Orleans to document the heart, soul and style of gumbo — a food that's as ubiquitous to New Orleans and the surrounding area as it is difficult to define."It was both the story of the food and the story of the town," Adams says. Along the way, he and his colleagues saw and recorded touching images of New Orleans' physical, spiritual and culinary recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.