Boudin in the News This Week
South Louisiana’s rice and meat-stuffed sausage casing made its way into two major publications this week. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal published an article about Cajun towns feuding over who owns the title of “boudin capital.” In April, the Louisiana legislature gave the title to Scott, located just west of Lafayette off Interstate 10, which grinds out 1.3 million pounds of boudin a year. But the town of Broussard, to the east, insists they are the boudin capital. A little further down the interstate from Scott, Jennings claims to be the “Boudin Capital of the Universe” and is home to Boudin King restaurant.
“We’ve got squatter’s rights,” Jennings’ Mayor Terry Duhon told WSJ. “What do we need to promote it for? We know.” Read the paper’s full account of the boudin war between these three towns here.
Yesterday, Gourmet magazine continued boudin’s week of fame by naming Lafayette’s Boudin Cook-Off one of “America’s Best Food Festivals.” Jane and Michael Stern, of Road Food, compiled the list, which also includes the Hot Chicken Festival in Nashville and Cheese Curd Festival in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. Just three years old, Lafayette’s boudin celebration is held downtown each October and includes boudin tasting, a boudin eating contest and pin the tail on the pig. See Gourmet’s full list here.
We’re glad to see boudin finally getting its culinary due. Here’s a couple of our own odes to the sausage from the archives:
Boudin On Display, the Southern Foodways’ Alliance’s traveling boudin exhibit
Boudin For a Day, our account of the 2010 Boudin Cookoff in Lafayette
Molly / June 30, 2012
I have to give credit where credit is due, and The Boudin King of Jennings was a fave of ours in the 70s. We made lots of road trips to Lake Charles, & always allowed scheduled time for a stop boudin in Jennings. Stop & Shop offered us our first good Lafayette boudin. Then Comeaux’s came out & became our fave. I like NuNus, I like Don’s & I like Broussard’s offering. You can declare Scott the capital, but there were some before them & there will be some after they stop serving. I think the whole idea of a community trying to declare themselves the best is a futile and kind of sad endeavor.