This page records three transactions involving the supply of flour to the residents of New Orleans. The middle item documents the delivery of biscuits and bread to a ship in port by a local baker, Jacques Moulon.
Because wheat could not readily be grown in the vicinity of New Orleans, there was
always a shortage of white flour in the early days of the city's history. The only source
of supply was France, whose vessels, loaded with food stuffs for the little colony, would
arrive in port every two or three months.... The precious flour, never in sufficient
quantities, would be stored in the city's warehouses, to be doled out when and to whom
the government officials pleased. So the daily bread of the early citizens of New
Orleans often was Indian corn meal cake, a poor substitute for the crisp, fragrant
loaves of their native France.... As the years went on, French tastes predominated and
pain francais became the city's undisputed Creole favorite.