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Crawfish festival breaux bridge 20216/3/2023 ![]() Sam also had a chance to come by the WRKF studios to answer some more questions about the book. Learn more about Louisiana’s longstanding love affair with crawfish, from industry to étouffée, check out Sam Irwin’s book, Louisiana Crawfish: A Succulent History of the Cajun Crustacean. "I just honor the crawfish for what it is, the crawfish." "So, I won’t try to those fancy dancy dishes," Sam says. But, Sam is something of a traditionalist. ![]() I see crawfish hot dogs, crawfish patties and of course, boiled crawfish. It’s here in all forms, shapes and sauces There are things like cajun pistols, which are these rolls stuffed with crawfish, cheese and spices crawfish beignets, likewise covered in cheese and spicy mayo. WRKF News Crawfish beignets covered in cheddar cheese and "son-in-law" sauce.Įven though it’s got its own competition, étouffée is not the only way you can enjoy crawfish at this festival. "Those are time-honored county fair contests you kind of do, we used to do a peeling contest and hey still do theétoufféecontest, of course." I had to check this out, so while Sam signed some books, I wandered off to thecookofftent, flanked on all sides by people stirring pots of delicious smellingétouffée. "Ever since 1959, they’ve been having a crawfishcookoff, you know a cooking contest," Sam says. And while Leon Breaux is no longer around to lead the parade, there are still some Crawfish Festival traditions that live on. Leon had nothing to do with the folks who organized the festival, but issued a royal proclamation to announce the festival each year and each year he put himself at the head of the parade. One morning in 1960 he woke up and declared himself the Eternal Crawfish King. Then there was Leon Breaux, a descendant of the Breauxs who founded Breaux Bridge. First of all, to raise money for the festival, a group of Breaux Bridge men grew out their beards, dressed in period attire and held a kangaroo court, handing out citations to any man without a beard. ![]() The beginnings of the crawfish festival were full of characters. "I had to escort my sister in the beauty pageant when I was a little kid." "I grew up in it, my parents were involved in it, I was in the marching band, I marched in all of the parades, my sisters were in all of the beauty contests and stuff, my younger sister Susan was the junior crawfish queen and the big girl crawfish queen," Sam says. And there are lots of vendors, selling crawfish jewelry, crawfish artwork, someone’s even selling a table specially designed for eating boiled crawfish, with a hole in the middle where you can drop the shells. Even some vendors and moving their hips a little bit under the shade of their tents. There’s a lot of dancing, even though it’s sweltering. There is a steady accordion beat under everything, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you could hear it across town. There is music everywhere, and if by some chance there isn’t a band playing on one end of the festival or another, it’s being piped in through speakers.
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