Mardi Gras wasn't always about drunken debauchery and bead-inspired nudity. Prior to the early 1800s, celebrations were prohibited from becoming too rowdy. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, was about eating all the food that had been given up during Lent. But in 1823, festivities were permitted, so people began having alcoholic drinks with their copious amounts of grub. In 1973, Mardi Gras parades were banned from passing through New Orleans' French Quarter. In the years following, tourists and drunken college students began to descend on the area. With the city's most famous street sharing the name of a type of liquor, it's no wonder that thoughts of New Orleans during Mardi Gras bring images of nonstop flowing booze.