By Patrick Mould

“I love my job!” shouts Marc Savoy, the exuberant accordionist of the Cajun supergroup, the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band.

The roar of the appreciative crowd of music lovers and twirling dancers who glide over the wooden dance floor as the final notes of a high tempo traditional song flows through the speakers of the sound system indicates the feeling is mutual.

Where was this scene being played out you ask? Perhaps a Cajun honky-tonk in Breaux Bridge, at a festival in Mamou or a dancehall in Lafayette, Louisiana? Nope! It was taking place at the eight annual Springtime Cajun Music Dance Festival outside the tiny village of Standfordville, New York in the middle of the picturesque Catskill Mountains.

Cajun culture is alive and well on the road! And how is it that I wander upon this familiar scene you wonder? I was invited by the organizers to travel up from the Sportsman’s Paradise, to give cooking demonstrations on Louisiana cooking. It was like being in the Cajun Twilight Zone, cooking alligator sauce piquant in the same valley that produces the world’s finest foie gras.

When Americans were first exposed to Louisiana’s culture scene in the early 80’s they became infatuated with this unique part of the country and over the years it has become part of their culture consciousness. It is Louisiana’s cultural diversity that seems to appeal to crowds outside the Bayou State.

What is it about Louisiana culture that infatuates so many of the public?

The answer is simple! It’s our joie de vie (joy of life), it’s our music, it’s the way we dance to that music, the way we spice our food.

Barry Ancelet, professor of folklore studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, summed it up best.

“In a larger sense I believe that Louisiana food, Louisiana music, and Louisiana culture have made it onto the American culture table.”

Louisiana culture is one of the most unique in the world. It has been referred to as a simmering gumbo of many different cultures: French, African, Spanish, German, Native American, Italian, all contributing different ingredients. It now stands as a categorized ethnic cuisine alongside Chinese, Mexican and Italian. You can now let your fingers do the walking in the yellow pages straight to the Cajun restaurant section in major metropolitan cities across America.

Cajun and Creole food and music are featured items at state fairs and festivals nationwide.

Louisiana chefs travel the country acting as consultants, spreading the gospel so to speak, while educating other chefs and restaurateurs on the ways of cooking Louisiana cuisine. Chefs and restaurateurs nationwide travel to Louisiana to experience firsthand our special brand of cooking.

Unless you travel down here and experience it firsthand it just becomes an interpretation of what you perceive it to be, you have to live our culture, albeit a short while, to truly understand.

But the infatuation continues on the road. In my two-week span of traveling I continuously came in contact with Cajun culture in some way, shape or form.

One case in point was the dance aficionado who looked at me with befuddlement when I declared that I was not familiar with the Mamou Shuffle, a particular dance step apparently popular amongst dancers who love to Cajun Two Step. She refused to believe I was not familiar with the step in spite of my numerous trips to Fred’s Lounge in downtown Mamou and years of growing up in honky-tonks strewn throughout the Bayou State.

Cajun food items continued to sprout up. Items like Hoboken Eddies Homemade BBQ Sauce, which I purchased at the famous Jewish deli Zebar’s on the upper west side of Manhattan that listed Cajun Spices amongst it’s ingredients.

I cruised the New Jersey Turnpike to the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia where Louisiana food and music were featured at the Jam on the River Festival. There was Crawfish Monica, red beans and rice, alligator sausage, the world’s most famous Cajun band, Beausoliel, along with Baton Rouge Piano Queen Marcia Ball and the famous Neville Brothers of New Orleans. For a second I thought I was back in Breaux Bridge.

However, all good trips must come to an end. I consider myself lucky to live in a state with so much cultural diversity. Food and music aficionados would be hard pressed to find a more unique cultural party in their own backyard no matter where they reside. I always come to that realization every time I travel outside the state. And fortunately for me, I can go home!

Filed Under: Food Talk