After witnessing what amounted to a theatrical performance, Steinbeck has no desire to stay in New Orleans for its famously excellent restaurants. He instead buys a simple poor-boy sandwich, drives out to a spot along the Mississippi River and begins eating his lunch.
A tall, well-groomed elderly White man strolls by and Steinbeck invites him to have coffee. The author makes the coffee very strong with egg shell and egg white, a method he had learned from friends in New Orleans. The elderly man appreciates the coffee and comments on its authentic Southern character. The conversation turns to the old man's family and how long it has lived in the South. He tells Steinbeck that it is a very long time except for those in St. Louis classified.....
