St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri, “the Gateway to the West,” stands at the junction of two great rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri. Founded by a grant to Pierre Liguest Laclède by the French crown in 1764, he named it for the king’s patron saint, St. Louis. Although ownership of the city changed hands, from French to Spanish, back to French and American (all superseding Native Americans), it has remained an important economic and cultural entity, the economic center of the Mississippi basin. Naturally, food plays an important role in the city’s history and current life.