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What brave soul was the first to dig into a pile of
boiled crawfish? We'll probably never know.
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Photo by Amanda Frank
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Hey Blake,
I want to know who started eating boiled crawfish and in what year? I am a transplant
to North Carolina from NOLA, and I have noticed a few crawfish ponds up here.
It looks like it's becoming a big cash crop.
Kenny Hopel
Dear Kenny,
Now I know that North Carolina is a nice state,
but it's not Louisiana. And I can hardly believe that it will ever capture
the title that was bestowed on the little Cajun town of Breaux Bridge on Bayou
Teche. In honor of the town's centennial year of 1958, a historical marker was
placed there when the Louisiana state legislature officially declared it "la
Capitale Mondiale de l'Ecrevisse," the Crawfish Capital of the World.
Folks have been feasting on crawfish for a
very long time, so it is quite impossible to say who should get the credit for
deciding to plop a crawdad into a pot full of boiling water and sample the results.
I would guess that it took a brave and hungry man, or more likely his wife.
Today Louisiana is the largest supplier of
crawfish in the world, but these guys have a long history. They were found in
ancient Europe, and the Normans who crossed the English Channel in 1066 called
them crevis. Sounds a lot like "crawfish," doesn't it?
Crawfish have been honored for years. The
Conte Lodovico Lodovici of Bologna adorned his pennants with crawfish in 1564,
and the Atwater family in medieval England put three mudbugs on their family
shield.
And early American pioneers knew a good meal
when they saw one. When crops and livestock were destroyed during terrible floods,
crawfish were plentiful and often served to prevent starvation.
However, the creatures were not only for the
poor. Wealthy folks snatched them up in markets and restaurants in cities on
the Atlantic coast almost 200 years ago. Because in the days before air conditioning
and planes, shipping was difficult, and crawfish -- whether raw or cooked --
became an expensive delicacy.
The lowly crawfish is found in folktales,
myths, fables, astrology, weather prediction, and medicinal uses in countries
as varied as France, Germany, Russia, Korea and Australia. Their pictures have
graced postage stamps internationally, and the United States honored the crawfish
when it was put on a stamp in 1984 to commemorate the World's Fair in New Orleans.
Crawfish also appear in literature and music: "You get a line and I'll get a
pole/ And we'll go down to the crawdad hole." And, of course, there is the ever-popular
Hank Williams tune that begins "Jambalaya, crawfish pie, file gumbo ...".
Today, I get a particular pleasure seeing
a tourist eat boiled crawfish for the first time. I like to watch his face when
he asks, "You want me to do what?!"
Hey Blake,
I am in the process of writing a book (actually rewriting) that was published
in 1891, but it seems to be set in 1886 to 1888. It describes in some detail
the floats of a specific Shrove Tuesday of that era and states that Comus had
its origin in 1839 with the introduction of a 6-foot chicken that paraded before
Lafayette Square. It also confirms the Cowbellians start in 1837 in Mobile,
Ala. Can this be verified?
Dan
Dear Dan,
It seems that this book can use some rewriting!
The first Comus parade was on Feb. 24, 1857;
the theme of the parade was inspired by John Milton's Paradise Lost.
The organizers of the Mistick Krewe of Comus would never have been associated
with a giant chicken.
Mobile also made a contribution to Mardi Gras
with the Cowbellian deRakin Society that began in 1830 on New Year's Eve. The
group was so named after the cowbells and rakes used as noisemakers when the
men, led by Michael Kraft, walked the streets in a spontaneous celebration.
Over the years, the group grew in size and reputation, and in 1840, it added
floats and paraded with a theme.
Some of the Mobile Cowbellians were founders
of the Mistick Krewe of Comus, but their parades have always been the epitome
of respectability and good taste.
