There’s a pretty good chance that you listen to podcasts in your car. There’s a one hundred percent chance that at some point you’re going to have to stop for gas. When you do, there’s a ninety percent chance you won’t go into the gas station. Nine out of ten people get gas, pay at the pump, and drive off. Which is something of a tragedy. Because they don’t know what they’re missing. Inside the most unassuming looking gas stations across America are some fascinating people and – believe it or not – some gourmet food.

I’m sure you find that hard to believe but we have it on the authority of none other than Al Hebert, who lives near the Vermilion River just outside of Abbeville. 

Al is a nationwide expert on gas station food. He’s known as The Gas Station Gourmet. 

Al has one of the most eccentric business backgrounds, not just in Acadiana but anywhere. He started out in the sheriff’s office. Became a detective. Then a hostage negotiator. Then, looking to do something a little more low key, he somehow ended up as a TV personality, hosting a cooking segment on the news. One day on assignment he did a story about a gas station in Crowley and was so amazed by the awesome food they were making there that he decided to turn gas station food into a lifetime’s work. And so the persona and the business of Gas Station Gourmet was born.

This is a fascinating tale of one man’s passion, as inspiring as it is eccentric.

Photos at Social by Gwen Aucoin.