If you want to know some secrets, ask a local. Especially in Louisiana. Especially in southeast Louisiana, where it’s not all gators and roughing it, the area boasts the Deep South culture and gentility, too.
It will not fail. You will be talking to someone there and discover that this person knows that person, and so the story goes. And it can be a long story, just like the area’s history.
At one meal during my weekend visit to the 10 parishes in southeast Louisiana (think Baton Rouge) calling themselves the Gumbo Group (Selagumbo.com), I was having lunch, and I began asking questions. I could hear just the whisper of how the connections in Louisiana run deep.
I wanted to learn more. I was particularly fascinated with the stories of the people who live in the bayous (known as Cajuns) and have deep roots with the “Acadians,” the French immigrants who settled in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. In fact, I had no idea that my much-loved story of Evangeline, which I had learned in New Brunswick, was also part of Louisiana culture.
That is Louisiana, tying itself with a bow as big as the state’s personality. But I digress because I was visiting the Southeast, and my conversation veered during lunch in Cajun country. Even so, the entire state is tied together with its stories, secrets, and recipes, and you have to find your favorite piece of Louisiana.
In my case, it so happens to be the southeast part of the state. It is true; Louisiana is a short drive from where.