Roman candy has been a quintessential New Orleans treat for more than a century. Made using a family recipe that dates back generations, the traditional taffy has been sold from the same mule-drawn wooden cart since 1915.
Sam Cortese was just 12 years old when he lost both of his legs below the knee in a streetcar accident. He became a street vendor when his father made him a goat-drawn cart, from which Sam sold fruit and vegetables. He also sold stone coal in the winter. If his mother had made candy and had some left over, sometimes Sam would sell it from the cart.
It sold so well that in 1915, when Sam was 25, he decided to focus on selling the candy. Since he had to be able to make the candy on his routes, he needed a wagon that he could drive from the inside, with windows all around, running water, a marble table, and a hook to pull the candy. He worked with wheelwright Tom Brinker to design a candy factory on wheels.
Sam’s mobile candy factory was pulled by horses until the city’s sanitation department replaced its fleet of mule-drawn garbage wagons with trucks. The wagon has been pulled by mules since 1946, when Sam bought his first one for $5.
Sam’s grandson Ron Kottemann says he has had about five or six good mules since he took over the family business when Sam passed away in 1969. He has had his current mule, Miss Mae, for about a year, and she knows the routes so well that Ron can make the candy while the wagon is rolling and simply give her voice commands.
“[The mules] have to have a lot of patience,” Ron says. “They have to like kids. No biting. No kicking. And that’s the start. When you get on the street, they have to be able to learn and continue to learn.”
According to Ron, his grandfather decided to call his product “Roman Candy” rather than “Italian Candy” because of the anti-Italian sentiment that was prevalent in the city at the time. The candy originally sold for 5 cents a stick and remained at that price until 1970. Ron sells the same three flavors his grandfather sold—vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry—but in the early days of the company, the candy wasn’t flavored.
“It wasn’t until the 1940s that customers started getting sophisticated enough to want flavors,” says Ron, adding that Sam experimented with a variety of different flavors but found that people took too long to make up their minds, so he settled on the three classic flavors.
Ron doesn’t have a set route, so customers never know exactly where to find the Roman Candy wagon on any given day. However, his son Daniel operates a second cart, which was built around the time of the World’s Fair in 1984, from a permanent location at the Audubon Zoo. Daniel will take over the company when Ron retires, ensuring that the sweet tradition will continue for another generation.
Today, the business looks much like it did 104 years ago, though with a few modern updates, of course. The candy now sells for $1 a stick, and the company has an impressive online business that took off after Hurricane Katrina, when displaced New Orleanians wanted a taste of home. It also became a popular favor for New Orleans weddings.
“In the ’70s, people started attaching all kinds of nostalgia to the wagon,” Ron says. “We’re a street vendor—that’s all we are. But I guess it means a lot more to people than I think.”
