I ate about 2 dozen at a friends on Sat, been to about 3-4 events this year already. I dont get the fascination with them, all that work for one little piece of meat with snot on the end of it too!
@Steven H: Â My father was Cajun, and I've also been amazed with the "fascination" of crawfish and Cajun/Creole products. Â When I went to college in north LA (La Tech 1973-1978), there were very few people in north LA that ate crawfish. Â Most people in that area also considered the state to be divided: Â Cajun in the south, something else in the north, with I-10 as the rough line. North LA totally rejected Cajun/Creole culture and food back in those days. Â However, as Cajun culture and food became popular via TV shows, more and more north LA people not only accepted the food and culture, but started living it. Â When we moved here in 1993, there was some Cajun overlap around Beaumont and a few isolated cases of transplanted south Louisianans (like me). Â To me, it was hilarious when we took a trip to north LA after moving here and the LA state line welcome sign on I-20 included a French welcome and a fleur de lis. Â Even Shreveport was claiming Cajun heritage! Most of this Cajun adoption Iin north LA was primarily a financial decision, not a cultural one. Â Many "Cajun" restaurants that opened in non-traditional Cajun areas typically just added a lot of cayenne pepper to make it spicy and called it Cajun food.However, after hurricane Katrina relocated many south Louisianans in 2005, the adoption of Cajun culture and food became more of a reality in north LA, Texas, Mississippi, etc. Â While there are still fake Cajun restaurants, there are more and more Cajun restaurants with authentic foods.Notice that I have used the terms Cajun and Creole to describe the culture and food. Â Cajuns were descendants of French people that had been driven out of Acadia (Nova Scotia) and some ended up in south LA. Â There are many different definitions of Creole, but they are basically a mix of blacks, Spanish, West Indies, etc. Â Over the years, these two cultures (along with Germans, Swiss, etc, etc) and foods blended together into what we now call "Cajun", but some prefer "Creole". Â I tend to use the term Cajun but realize that the Creole contribution was significant.
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