Author: Emily Gautreaux

A Louisiana Shrimp Festival in Delcambre

Twenty miles southwest of Lafayette, Louisiana there is a town known for an American delicacy that most of us enjoy: SHRIMP! Delcambre, Louisiana has an entire festival dedicated to these crustaceans. This year the festival is going on from August 14th- August 18th.

The original name was not the Delcambre Shrimp Festival. The Iberia Parish Shrimp Festival and Agricultural fair held the name title until 1974. It originally started as a festival to help raise money for the Delcambre Fire Department in 1950, since then it has flourished. It is now one of the top ten festivals in Louisiana! The festival is 5 days filled with entertainment, rides, and of course, food.

Shrimp is one of the most versatile foods out there so the options are endless. Shrimp dishes like shrimp sauce piquante, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, shrimp salad and more! Do not worry if you want to go but aren’t a shrimp person; the festival offers options that are not just shrimp! Tons of delicious complimentary sides are available to purchase, as well as desserts, kid foods, and interesting Louisiana-themed dishes.  There is something for every palate and cold drinks are always available.

The 14th, 15th, and 18th dates of the festival require no entry fee. The 16th and 17th there is a $10 entry fee. There is even a bracelet offered for unlimited rides for the festival.

Shrimping has a long history in Louisiana; fishermen have taken advantage of Louisiana’s marshes and estuaries of our coastline since earliest settlement. As the size of the catch increased to meet a growing consumer demand, shrimping emerged as an important folk occupation in Louisiana during the twentieth century.

Two types of fishermen shrimp in coastal Louisiana; those who shrimp with the small vessels in the shallow bays and those with large vessels who shrimp offshore in deeper waters. The inland fishermen operate during seasons regulated by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Often, their crews are family members, and the trip may last for around 1-3 days. Many of the shrimpers who fish seasonally live in settlements along the bayous of south Louisiana and along the lower Mississippi River. Many come from a tradition of fishing and shrimping during the spring, summer and fall months, then oystering and trapping during the winter months. The ranks of shrimpers have increased as others have entered the shrimping industry. Many left city and industrial work, preferring to be their own boss. While traditionally many shrimpers in Louisiana come from a French-speaking background, Chinese, Filipino, Croatian, and Vietnamese immigrants have also entered the South Louisiana fishing industry for their livelihoods.  Larger vessels are outfitted to pursue offshore shrimp for extended periods of time and are able to work year round.

While shrimping continues as a way of life for many folks in Louisiana, changes are occurring which will affect the continuity of the shrimping tradition and the availability of shrimp. As a business, shrimping has become much more competitive, with more licenses granted now than several years ago. A steady increase in cheaper, imported shrimp from South America and Southeast Asia has greatly cut into the local fishermen’s market and pollution in the waterways are also taking their toll.

So while shrimping as a way of life and a family tradition is still present in Louisiana, many fishermen are having to relinquish this heritage. One way to support this Louisiana tradition is to opt to purchase gulf shrimp and ask that your local restaurants and grocers purchase their shrimp from local sources.

The 2019 Special Events

2019 Baby Shrimp Pageant

2019 Little & DEB Shrimp

2019 Junior and Teen Shrimp Queen Pageant

2019 Miss Shrimp Queen Pageant

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Culinary Medicine Partnership

In partnership with LSU Health New Orleans, Nicholls State University proudly announced its latest offering– a two-week course in culinary medicine beginning in the summer session of 2019. The program began July 1st. Nine third-year LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine students are enrolled. They are currently studying the possible preventative effects that nutrition can have in treating chronic diseases, as well as the crucial, fundamental culinary skills and recipes to promote good nutrition. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, eating patterns and specific foods have proven to be effective treatments in some cases of epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and acute cough.

Dr. John La Puma, the founder of ChefMD and Chef Clinic, defined culinary medicine as: an evidence-based field that blends the art of cooking with the science of nutrition. It is multidisciplinary in its way of blending art and science, which are arguably very similar in that they both take time, craft, and attention. Culinary medicine promotes the teamwork of physicians and nutrition professionals to prevent and treat patients’ illnesses by learning more about the food we eat.

“The Office of Undergraduate Medical Education is excited to offer this career planning elective to the Class of 2021. While students are taught the science of nutrition during their first and second years of medical school, the Culinary Medicine CPE gives them the opportunity to translate this into practical knowledge,” Dr. Catherine Hebert, the associate professor of clinical medicine and co-director of clinical sciences curriculum at LSU Health New Orleans stated. She continued, “It is not just about telling a patient to cut out salt and fat. It is about teaching them how to do this in a way that is realistic given the time and money constraints that we all face.”

During the course, students begin the day in the classroom. Here, they learn nutrition theory through lectures, case studies, and simulations that focus on such ailments as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, heart disease, and obesity. In the afternoon, the third-year will move from classroom to kitchen in order to learn fundamental culinary skills and related recipes from chefs and other culinary professionals. What is learned in the morning is then created in the afternoon, meaning that the nutrition content learned at the head of the day is used in relevant recipes in the afternoon. The Culinary Department Head Chef John Kozar gave the example, “Let’s say they learn about diabetes in the morning, we will work on dishes appropriate for the diabetic patient in the afternoon.”

The learning does not stop at the walls of the classroom or kitchen. Students will also take field trips to Rouses Supermarket with a Registered Dietician (RD), tour the kitchen at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, and test their new nutritional knowledge at local restaurants.

“This is an exciting opportunity for both Dietetics and the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute to have an even bigger impact on the community,” expressed Dr. Brigett Scott, associate dean of the College of Science and Technology and associate professor of dietetics. “What people eat has one of the biggest impacts on their health. Ultimately, the goal is that these future doctors will practice in Louisiana and promote the nutrition and culinary skills they learned to make an impact on the health of our community.”

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How to Spend a Day in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan has known many kinds of notoriety, from its illustrious heyday as “Motor City” and birthplace of Motown, the music label that popularized soul. Detroit’s streets were the first to see an affordable motorized vehicle with Henry Ford’s Model T, released in 1908. Half a century later in 1959, after years of working on the Ford Motor Company assembly line that dubbed it “Motor City”, Berry Gordy created Motown Records, the record label that popularized such renowned musical artists as Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and more. The Motown sound bridged the racial gap in popular music as it propelled soul music to the greater American audience.

Detroit has been discredited over the years as the motor industry market has become saturated, leading to less jobs and funding to the city overall, but the city is no lost cause. For the last decade, the city has undergone a rebirth through restoration efforts. The following are must-visit locales:

Must Stay in Detroit:

THE ALOFT DETROIT AT THE DAVID WHITNEY BUILDING

The Aloft hotel is located in the over one hundred year old David Whitney Building. In 1915, the iconic David Whitney Building was built in the iconic Neo-Renaissance style with terracotta and glazed brick facade. Recently, the building went through a major facelift — a $92 million facelift to be precise. The nearly billion dollar renovations resulted in 136 contemporary-styled rooms spanning 19 stories. The spacious lobby houses a four storey atrium and skylight, streaming daylight over marble and gold-leafing.

Must Stay in Detroit:

THE FORD ROUGE FACTORY

Motor City has over a century of history with the Fords. The city witnessed the manufacture of General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford in the Henry Ford factory. This created enough jobs to employ 10,000 of the two million citizens of Detroit. This workforce was reduced with the introduction of robotic automation on the assembly line. Today, about 3,000 people still work the production line, overseeing the smooth running of the machinery.

Although it may seem an odd tourist suggestion, watching a car created through the assembly line with the precision of human intervention is captivating. A new vehicle leaves the line every 53 seconds, averaging 1,500 trucks every day of production. The factory has an innovative 5D multisensory film as well as a display of the innovative V-8, the classic Thunderbird, and the Mustang.

THE FISHER BUILDING

Be sure to see the splendor of the Art Deco style Fisher Building. Created by architect Albert Kahn in 1928, this masterpiece of a building resides on West Grand Boulevard in midtown. It’s an ornate 30-story skyscraper that doubles as Detroit’s Largest Art Object. The exterior limestone, granite, and multiple types of marble dazzle in the sunlight. The interior houses an arcade, a theatre, intricate and distinct mosaics, hand-painted ceilings,  Art Deco chandeliers, incredible views of the city below, and the finest craftsmanship in stone, brass, and bronze. Walk-in tours are free, but it’s best to reserve a time by registering first.

HENRY FORD MUSEUM OF AMERICAN INNOVATION

Henry Ford amassed a grandiose collection of Americana since 1929. The displays include the Quadricycle, a four-wheeled motorized vehicle with bicycle tires, presidential cars, airplanes, furniture, and tractors. There is also a museum of mathematics housed within the larger Museum itself. The notorious bus in which Rosa Parks made a stand against segregation by refusing to give up her seat to a white person, leading to her arrest and consequently, the bus boycott of Montgomery, AL in 1955. These events led to a wave of protest and paved the way for the civil rights movement in the next decade. Another notable display is the very rocking chair in which President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. A Model T, the first affordable Ford car, is taken apart and reassembled daily for the public’s viewing.

DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS (DIA)

The second largest art museum in the US is the Detroit Institute of Arts. Here, you may witness Peter Brugel’s The Wedding Dance(1566), which was, in its time, controversial for depicting mixed race dancing and kissing. Diego Rivera, husband to fellow Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, was a Mexican communist who was commissioned by Cecil Ford during the Great Depression to create a body of works in tribute to the industry and its workforce. The resulting works depicted the progression of the Ford Motor Company, highlighting the human plight in 27 panels known as the “Detroit Industry Murals.” The following famous artists’ works are included in the museum’s collection: Cezanne, Dega, Matisse, Picasso, and Van Gogh.

THE MOTOWN MUSEUM

Motown music was birthed in Hitsville USA, the nickname of the home that housed founder Berry Gordy and Berry’s recording studio, where the magic happened. Previous to his own business ventures, Gordy worked a job at the Ford Factory, which he proclaimed to be “the worst job in the world.” The clanging sounds of metal being soldered, hammered, and drilled on the assembly line would inspire the Motown sound. These sounds were repetitive and became the backbone of Motown rhythm.

Gordy began to write and produce music. He took the flow of the production line to create a music industry parallel to the factory floor: finding young, raw teenage talent, teaching them social etiquette, grooming, and dance, and releasing them into the world, turning them into stars.

2019 marks the 60th anniversary of Motown Records. On May 19th, there was a spring block party on the museum grounds with live music, food trucks, and free museum tours.

RIVERTOWN

The city lights reflect beautifully at night along the city’s five-mile riverfront walkway called the Detroit International Riverwalk. The path connects Chene Park Amphitheatre and William G Miliken State Park and Harbor. It leads visitors to the Outdoor Adventure Center. Across the water, you can see a whole other country–Canada.

Must Stay In Detroit

American cuisine is the casual but delicious food of choice in Detroit. Two must eateries are Wright & Company and Lumen Restaurant, both located in the Downtown area.

Wright & Company specializes in modern Amercan small plates, craft cocktails, wines, and craft beers. The gastro-bistro can be found on the second floor of the Wright-Kay building. Try the potato chips, scallops, crab cakes, chicken, roasted cauliflower, and beef tenderloin. Be sure to save room for a butterscotch dessert or an orange date cake.

Lumen Restaurant is a new restaurant/bar found in a building with tall windows overlooking Beacon Park. There is indoor and outdoor seating, depending on the weather. The menu is small but packed with great choices, such as the hot pretzel sticks, Wagyu beef, mac and cheese, crab chowder, charcuterie, salmon, and pasta with shrimp.

If you’re not in the Downtown area, another option is The Jolly Pumpkin in Midtown. It’s a nice lunchtime venue as well as a pizzeria. Be sure to also try the curried chips, hummus flatbreads, and a wide selection of beer.

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New Orleans Tourism Musts

Louisiana is a beautiful bayou-filled state. When visiting New Orleans, most people wonder how to narrow down their list of “must dos”.  We’ve got you covered. Take a walk along the Mississippi River, or do any of the following, and your sure to enjoy yourself.

New Orleans, also known as “The Big Easy”, was originally founded as La Nouvelle-Orléans in the Spring of 1718 by the French Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. Previous to the establishment as a French port city, the land was inhabited by the indigenous Chitimacha people. Spanish moss hangs from the trees, swamp air floats on the breeze, and Cajun spices and dishes are plentiful. Today, New Orleans is a vibrant port city filled with culture. It has become a festival city, hosting events from the annual Mardi Gras celebration and parades to the annual Jazz Heritage Music Festival to Voodoo Music + Arts Festival to the Bloody Mary Festival. It’s always a party in New Orleans; laissez les bons temps rouler!

The French Quarter is a scenic must-see. This area is characterized by its historic buildings with their cast-iron balconies to their brick or stucco exteriors. The main architecture style of the shopfronts and homes of the French Quarter is that of the Creole cottage. Along the Quarter, you can visit the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, take a walk among the flowers of Jackson Square, catch musical street performances in front of the St. Louis Cathedral, stop in a Voodoo shop, or stop in one of the many bars to hear live music or grab a drink for your stroll down Bourbon Street. Take a guided ghost or vampire tour through the taverns, cemeteries, and alleyways of New Orleans, if you’re brave enough!

Book your stay at the Domio Baronne St., which is a wonderful apartment-style hotel that is perfect for large groups of families and friends. This hotel is found in the Warehouse District, minutes from the French Quarter and Convention Center. If you’re looking for a luxurious hotel experience, look no further than the Cambria Hotel & Suites New Orleans, also located in the Warehouse District. For a stay at an affordable price point, look to the Omni Riverfront Hotel, the Old No. 77 Hotel & Chandlery, or the Bourbon Orleans Hotel.

If you are a purveyor of history and art, there are gorgeous museums in the city from which to choose. For example, the National WWII Museum displays the various theatres of the war, showcasing industrial efforts at home to the combat experience of the American soldier abroad. For a more artistic museum experience, visit the New Orleans Museum of Art  (NOMA) in City Park. This is New Orleans’ oldest fine arts institution with a permanent collection of almost 40,000 objects. Outside of NOMA is the Besthoff Sculpture Garden. There are also plenty of galleries and antique shops to visit for several blocks in the French Quarter if you want a look at local artists’ works.

Take a walk through City Park or Frenchman Street for stylish exercise and views. Replenish yourself with a stop at Cafe du Monde for beignets and coffee, Angelo Brocato Ice Cream for Italian style treats, GW Fins for American cuisine, or Loretta’s Authentic Pralines for delicious pecans coated in brown sugar and butter.

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Louisiana Teachers Gather for Annual Summit

The Louisiana Department of Education held the 7th Teacher Leader Summit on Wednesday, June 26th through Friday, June 28th, 2019. More than 6,500 Louisiana teachers and educators, representing almost every school system in the state, gathered at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. This annual Summit was created in response to teachers who thought classroom educators should have a larger voice in statewide academic decisions.At the first statewide summit in April 2013, there were 2,000 teachers in attendance. Since then, the number of participating teachers has tripled with an approximated 6,500 teachers in attendance this year. They have since branched out to a blend of year-round-in-person and online trainings to expand the opportunities available to Teacher Leaders.

From Wednesday through Friday, these over 6,000educators spent their time at the Summit attending and conducting professional development training workshops, collaborating with one another as peers, and learning how they can best play active roles in shaping the future of up-and-coming Louisiana minds and the future of education in Louisiana. The collection of training and workshop topics vary from early childhood development and education to school improvement and Louisiana’s innovative assessment pilot, which was enacted to study how the state tackles issues of school accountability, student assessment, data transparency, and school improvement. In addition to these workshops led by Teacher Leaders, the Summit will host “Ed Talks,” which is a speaker series that featured the six national education leaders.

The 7th Teacher Leader Summit ushered in preparations for the 2019-2020 school year and those to follow. The summit overview listed its objectives as follows:

“This year’s event will equip educators in every level of the system with tools and training that provide all students the opportunity to:

  • Build knowledge of the world
  • Read meaningful texts
  • Express ideas through writing and speaking
  • Solve complex math problems
  • Attend a school that treats them with dignity and respect”

The State Superintendent John White stated, “Louisiana has a longstanding commitment to raising the bar, and as a result, more students than ever before are graduating in four years, earning college and career credentials, achieving eligibility for TOPS scholarships, and pursuing post-secondary education and training.” State Superintendent White continued, “During the 7th annual Teacher Leader Summit, we will celebrate those hard-earned gains, but more importantly, we will focus on how our collaborative efforts can make those opportunities accessible to all students, including our most vulnerable.”

Students from The Performing Arts Academy of St. Bernard Parish performed in the convention center’s theater for the inauguration of the event. Superintendent White addressed the current state of education in Louisiana and outlined the academic strategy moving forward into the future. The 2018 Louisiana Teacher of the Year and recipient of the inaugural Louisiana Public Interest Fellowship, Kimberly Eckert, announced the winner of the Fellowship for the 2019-2020 school year. Lastly, South Lafourche High School was honored with the title of 2019 Louisiana Teacher Leader Summit Premier School.

Watch a stream of the opening ceremony here.

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30 Interesting Facts About Louisiana

Located in the southeastern region of the United States, Louisiana was the 18th state to join the union by attaining statehood on April 30, 1812. Today, Louisiana is the 31st most extensive, or biggest, state as well as the 25th most populated state. It shares borders with three states, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The remainder of the state’s border, the southern border, is lined by the Gulf of Mexico. It is known to some by such monikers as the Sugar State, the Bayou State, the Creole State, the Child of the Mississippi, and the Pelican State. Louisiana consists of 64 parishes, the state’s specific version of counties. Its capital city is Baton Rouge. In the next 30 facts written by theFACTfile, we will learn more about Louisiana’s history, people, geography, economy, and more.

  1. The first inhabitants of what is now known as Louisiana were Native American tribes such as the Natchez, Bayagoula, and Chitamacha.
  2. The first natural gas field was found at a depth of 400 feet in Louisiana in the year 1823.
  3. Because of past fertility of its land, Louisiana was once known as one of the richest regions in America due to the indigo, sugar, and cotton industries making the white statesmen rich.
  4. Louisiana was a French colony between 1682 and 1763.
  5. France relinquished Louisiana and the Isle of Orleans to Spain in November 1762.
  6. René-Robert Cavelier names Louisiana in the mid 1600s in honor of King Louis XIV of France who reigned from 1643 to 1715.
  7. The food and culture of the state reflects the longevity of early French and Spanish settlers’ influence on the state.
  8. The Louisiana State Capitol is the tallest state capital in the U.S. Inaugurated on May 16, 1931, the capital building is 34 stories at a total of 450 feet tall. This tallest of capital buildings was built under the direction of former Governor Huey P. Long, who was assassinated in the building in September of 1935, four years after the building’s inauguration.
  9. The nickname “the Pelican State” comes from the numerous pelicans that once inhabited the state’s gulf coast. These pelicans indigenous to Louisiana have since gone extinct, and now, the pelicans found on Louisiana’s gulf coast are actually brown pelicans from Florida.
  10. Louisiana is one of the leaders in the country’s leading oil and gas producing states.
  11. In August 2005, the Category 3 hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, devastated some parts of Louisiana, particularly the 9th ward of New Orleans. The damage dealt by the storm was underestimated as the possibility of levees breaking was not taken into account. Katrina eroded 73 square miles of Louisiana coastland, and caused the death of an estimated 1,500 Louisiana citizens. It resulted in more than $100 billion in damages. Louisiana hurricane season lasts from June through November each year.
  12. During its first centennial in 1912, Louisiana adopted its official flag depicting a pelican mother feeding her own skin to her three chicks with the below inscription saying, “Union Justice Confidence” in front of a deep blue background.
  13. The Mississippi River both runs through and borders the state.
  14. The state has been governed under 10 different flags since the Spanish conquistador, Hernando de Soto, landed in 1541.
  15. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, buying 530,000,000 acres of territory in North America for $15 million from Napoleon Bonaparte of France. This purchase effectively doubled the size of the United States at the time.
  16. The original Louisiana Purchase territory is now split into 13 states.
  17. Louisiana boasts no official language. English, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese are among the most common spoken languages in the state.
  18. It is one of the wettest states in the United States.
  19. Along with being the capital, Baton Rouge is an important inland port due to its location along the Mississippi River.
  20. Louisiana leads the U.S. in crawfish and shrimp production.
  21. This is a mostly flat state. The highest point, Driskill Mountain, is 535 feet, or 163 meters above sea level. The lowest point in the state is New Orleans at 8 feet, or 2.5 meters below sea level.
  22. Louisiana land can be divided into three types of regions: lowlands, hills, and terraces.
  23. Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday” is a big festival boasting numerous parades that takes place the day before Ash Wednesday. The Mardi Gras festival has been held in New Orleans since 1838.
  24. Louisiana was home to important contributions in the US space exploration program, such as the production of the C-5 boosters used in the Apollo moon landing.
  25. This is the only state to have political subdivisions called parishes rather than counties like the other 49 states. Jefferson Parish is the largest population-wise, and Cameron Parish is the largest land area-wise. There are 64 parishes total.
  26. LA state license plates have had the following phrases appear on them: “Bayou State”, “World’s Fair”, and “Sportsman’s Paradise.”
  27. The capitals of Louisiana have been as follows: New Orleans from 1812-1830, Donaldsville from 1830-1831, New Orleans from 1831-1849, Baton Rouge from 1849-1862, New Orleans from 1862-1882, and finally, Baton Rouge since 1882.
  28. The geographic center of Louisiana is located 3 miles southeast of Marksville in Avoyelles Parish. The whole state is 380 miles long and 130 miles wide.
  29. Coincidentally, the state’s shape resembles the capital letter “L” or a boot.
  30. Louisiana is a major producer of corn and soybeans.

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