Virtual Louisiana: Culture and Culinary Experiences Come to Life Online

From sights to sounds and the freshest flavors around, Louisiana is bursting with arts, culture and cuisine that you’ll want to experience even when you’re not here. Fortunately, virtual experiences are offered aplenty, making it easier than ever to travel digitally. Wander our art galleries with 360-degree virtual tours, listen to live music during a Zoom concert series, or whip up some Southern dishes with online cooking demonstrations and recipes from celebrity chefs. Whether you want a pre-vacation sneak peek or you’re still dreaming of your last visit, try some of these ideas for bringing home the Bayou State. 

Virtual Art Gallery Tours & Online Cultural Events

Stroll through the art galleries—or at least feel like you are—when you take the 360-degree virtual tour of the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans’ oldest fine arts institution, which boasts a permanent collection of more than 40,000 objects. 

Even when you’re not at Baton Rouge’s LSU Museum of Art, you can still experience its permanent collection with a 360-degree virtual tour. The permanent collection, housed on the fifth floor of the Shaw Center for the Arts, includes one of the most comprehensive public collections of Louisiana art, as well as a notable Chinese jade collection.

With video tours of exhibits, recorded gallery talks, live online art sessions and live mindfulness sessions inspired by a work of Southern art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art offers a wealth of virtual experiences, no matter where you are in the world. This museum in New Orleans’ Warehouse Arts District specializes in work by Southern artists, as well as workshops and special events.

Whether you’re scrolling through pictures of artwork in the digital collection, watching videos of virtual tours or downloading educational coloring books to make your own art, the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane in New Orleans features an online hub of online art experiences. 

The National WWII Museum in New Orleans is renowned for its immersive educational experiences—from multimedia exhibits to the 4D journey Beyond All Boundaries, narrated by Tom Hanks—but it also offers an array of distance learning programs for students and  life-long learners of all ages. For more remote experiences, check the events calendar for upcoming webinars offered through Zoom, touching on topics ranging from aircraft design to women Airforce service pilots during World War II. 

At the New Orleans Jazz Museum, photographs, sheet music, records and instruments that once belonged to jazz greats are the draw for music aficionados. Experience a sample of the collection from home when you browse the Louisiana Digital Library, or listen to live jazz during one of the virtual concerts, offered as part of the “Quarantunes” live music series.  

Virtual Culinary Experiences

Transport yourself to the New Orleans School of Cooking gift shop—where the shelves are brimming with gourmet treats, ready-made mixes and Southern ingredients—with a 360-degree virtual tour, and then pop into the classroom for quips and tips from the cooking teacher. For in-depth online cooking lessons, browse cooking school’s YouTube channel for videos on making local specialties such as pralines, gumbo and more.

Hang out with some of Louisiana's best chefs as they host cooking demos for Louisiana Seafood! Their offering some of their chef tips and you get to watch them in action. Join Louisiana Chef Jay Ducote, owner of Gov't Taco, as he shows how to make blackened red snapper over corn maque choux with jalapeño relish. Also catch Bite and Booze, Ducote's award-winning radio show/podcast all about Louisiana food. Ever wondered what to do with the leftover crawfish boil? Chef Chris Motto has some tips for you. Start watching!

A New Orleans institution dating back to 1862, Cafe du Monde is famous for its original powder sugar-drenched beignets—the state doughnut of Louisiana—and coffee and chicory mixed with hot milk, served as café au lait. Feel like you’re at this historic landmark on Jackson Square when you see the 360-degree video tour of the exterior and interior, as well as a peek into the kitchen where cooks are churning out just-fried beignets.

Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse started his career at New Orleans mainstay Commander’s Palace, and he has since gone on to open four restaurants in New Orleans: Emeril’s New Orleans, NOLA Restaurant, Emeril’s Delmonico and Meril. Visit his YouTube channel for secrets on making his signature dishes.

For even more video recipes, visit the Louisiana Travel YouTube channel to watch fun and simple :60sec videos! Learn how to make charbroiled oysters, jambalaya, seafood gumbo, crawfish bread and more.