The expression “the bottom line” comes from business. It refers to the bottom line of a balance sheet – which is the total sum of money you’ve made or lost. In general conversation we take it to mean the absolute fundamental basis of something. On this edition of Out to Lunch Acadiana, Aileen and guests are talking…

For the last couple of hundred years we’ve been making food in Acadiana that tastes totally different from anything you find anywhere else in the world. But, with the notable exception of New Iberia’s Tabasco – which is a hugely successful international brand – it’s only been relatively recently that Acadian food manufacturers have tried exporting…

It’s not unheard of for us to jump into something with two feet and totally commit to it – only to discover some time later that things aren’t working out exactly as we planned and we need to take some remedial action. On your wedding day, for example, you don’t imagine you’re going to find…

Many indigenous populations have a view of their place in the universe that defines them as stewards of the Earth. Australian Aborigines, Native Americans, and others, see themselves as intimately connected to the land. Here in Acadiana we’re intimately connected to the land in an agricultural sense, but you wouldn’t expect to see Neil deGrasse Tyson…

For as long as human beings have been on earth, we’ve been on the move. If you’re a Creationist, Adam and Eve were the first travelers when God told them to pack up their fig leaves and get out of The Garden of Eden. If you’re an Evolutionist, geological finds support the theory that early humans…

Here in Acadiana, whether you’re a recent arrival or your family’s been here for generations, there’s one thing we all agree on – we have a unique culture that we need to preserve. That’s a great sentiment. But even though we all have it, wishing doesn’t make it happen. For culture to be preserved, somebody…

You may remember in the late 1990’s a company called BASF had a massive TV marketing campaign, based on what they didn’t make. They had a number of commercials that said things like, “At BASF we don’t make the cooler, we make it cooler.” And “At BASF we don’t make the jeans, we make them…

A lot of people around here in Acadiana compare the recent downturn in the oil business to the downturn in the 1980’s. The general consensus seems to be that although this downturn is having a longer-term effect within the oil business itself, it’s having a lesser effect on the overall Acadian economy. The reason everybody…

If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like meat, you might want to keep this show on in the background and not listen too closely. If you’re the kind of person who believes there are certain jobs that women just shouldn’t do – for example, that there’s nothing sexy about a lady pig farmer…

In Acadiana we love music. Not only do we listen to it, but many of us play it. There are probably more musicians per capita here than anywhere in the country. Music, for many families, is a way of both celebrating and passing on our culture. It is, as the late Eddie LeJeune, said, “In the…