By Mary Tutwiler

These are the three little words I long to hear.

“Hungry? Picnic? Avery Island?”

And of course my answer is “yes, yes, yes.”

Goat cheese and grapes, or baloney on white bread, come April I like to take my dejeuner sur l’herbe (that’s literally “lunch on the grass.”) And while it would be nice to take my clothes off too, (√† la Manet,) for a swim in the bayou, I think I’ll leave the waters to the gators and the bathing to the tub.

This time of year the Jungle Gardens of Avery Island are lush and fragrant with azalea, wisteria, iris, yucca, and all the little wild flowers blooming madly in the grass. The egret rookery, Bird City, where American and Snowy egrets migrate up from Mexico to mate, nest and raise their young will be in full breeding plumage. And as the waters warm and the Southern sun heats up the air, big-bodied gators will surface to catch some rays, and perhaps a stray nutria as well.

Since we’re on the subject, let’s talk a minute about nutria. Cajun legend has it, perpetuated by E.A. McIlhenny in the 1940s who took credit for furring the trapping industry in Louisiana, that the McIlhennys released South American coypu (nutria to Louisianans) into the marsh.

(Editor’s Note: The facts, however, contradict this story. Responding to an article espousing this rather romantic myth, in January Shane K. Bernard, Ph.D., historian and curator for the McIlhenny Company archives, sent the following in a letter to various Louisiana newspaper editors.

“Despite popular belief erroneously perpetuated for decades, this account is
historically inaccurate: The E. A. McIlhenny Papers in the McIlhenny Company
Archives indicate that E. A. McIlhenny actually purchased his first nutria
from a pre-existing nutria farm in St. Bernard Parish in 1938.

“Furthermore, another pre-existing nutria farm operated in St. Tammany Parish as early as 1933. When it folded in 1937, its owners, by their own admission, set loose a number of their nutria into the state’s wild—months before E. A. McIlhenny bought his first nutria! In short, E. A. McIlhenny did not introduce nutria to Louisiana, nor were his nutria the first to be released into the wild. And while it is probable that some of his nutria escaped around 1940 to colonize Iberia and surrounding parishes, it is also probable that these other nutria farms contributed to the animal’s proliferation.”

Officially, company executives say that there is no connection between Tabasco sauce and the nutria, that the project was a personal one for E.A. McIlhenny and not part of the pepper business. Tabasco does go well with nutria on the plate, however.)

Today, the rapidly reproducing rodents are taking a big bite out of Louisiana’s wetlands, contributing to coastal degradation and land loss. However, I do know that current president and CEO of McIlhenny Company, Paul. C. P. McIlhenny cooks a mean nutria sauce piquant.

Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. I was about to suggest that nutria sandwiches be a part of any Avery Island picnic.

One morning I was on the Island early, at daybreak, with Times-Picayune photographer David Grunfeld, to take pictures. We set up at the end of a road that circles one of the many lagoons on the Island. David wanted to get a shot of dawn painted clouds and a cypress tree reflected in the water. We were standing in the dark, sipping steaming coffee, taking turns looking through the lens while watching fingers of pink slowly stretch their way across the sky. It was so quiet not even the mosquitoes were humming.

Suddenly, behind us, in a thicket of bamboo, we heard a loud, breathy snort. A big-lunged wet snort. And another. The bamboo rattled in the brake. “It’s a deer,” I said. “It’s a bear,” David said. We looked at the car to see how fast we could scramble onto the roof. “Snort,” went the snort.

Just then the sky turned luminous pink, and David had to focus his attention on his f-stops. I jittered around behind him. “Snort,” went the snort. The sun cracked through the cypress as an exaltation of tree frogs began singing, punctuating their arias with the kettledrum call of a bullfrog in full bellow. Egrets rode the morning thermals in long V formations, a skiff cut through the mist on Petite Anse Bayou, out fishing early. The snort trotted off, I could hear him crashing around in the bamboo, and then it was quiet behind us except for some raucous crows waking up cranky.

I got my breakfast later; another cup of coffee and a link of boudin in a deliciously greasy twist of paper at the Tabasco Country Store. (I really think they ought to sell nutria hot links.)

If you don’t pack a picnic, the Tabasco Deli, which was once the Island’s grocery store, makes plate lunches and sandwiches. I hear the hot dog with Tabasco chili, served on Wednesdays, is a killer.

If you go to Avery Island, located 5 miles outside of New Iberia, Louisiana, the Tabasco Factory tours are free. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Jungle Gardens costs $5.75 per person, $4 for children under 12. The gardens are open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.daily.

Filed Under: Food Talk