New Orleans is especially famous for the street-food sandwich called the po’ boy.
A po’ boy is typically made with New Orleans-style French bread and filled with meat or seafood. Fried shrimp, oysters, roast beef, and hot sausage are among the best-known versions. Lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise are common additions, though a roast-beef po’ boy may use gravy instead.
The sandwich’s standard origin story places its creation in New Orleans during the 1929 streetcar strike. Restaurant owners Benny and Clovis Martin, former streetcar conductors, reportedly served free sandwiches to striking workers they called “poor boys.” The name was later rendered in the local pronunciation as po’ boy.
The term is sometimes used for any large sub-style sandwich, but the New Orleans bread and local fillings are important to its identity. It is also distinct from a muffuletta, another famous New Orleans sandwich that uses round sesame bread and olive salad.