To the rest of the United States, the symbol of Louisiana is the alligator. Gators slither across T-shirts, baseball caps, and posters in every souvenir shop in the state. You can find the cute critters doing everything from smoking a cigarette leaning up against a gas lamp in New Orleans’ French Quarter, to playing the accordion in…

Apparently, back in the dim distant past, people used to get sick, go to a doctor, get cured, and go home. We’d pay the doctor for his or her services, and everybody would walk away happy. That was a long time ago. Now you go to a doctor, you get a battery of tests, you…

One of the things we’re proudest of in Acadiana is our culture. A big part of it is music and dance. Cajun and Zydeco. There are similarities and notable differences between Cajun music and dance, and Zydeco music and dance. Leaving aside for the moment the intertwined Acadian and African influences, one major musical difference, obvious…

One of the things we re proudest of in Acadiana is our culture. A big part of it is music and dance. Cajun and Zydeco. There are similarities and notable differences between Cajun music and dance, and Zydeco music and dance. Leaving aside for the moment the intertwined Acadian and African influences, one major musical…

In Acadiana there are a number of Holy Trinities. There’s the original, Christian, one. There’s the roux: onions, peppers and celery. And there’s the Acadian Agricultural trinity – Sugarcane, crawfish, and rice. In the rice capital of the world, Crowley Louisiana, The Falcon Rice Mill has been a family business since 1950. It’s the only family-run rice mill…

We generally talk about heroes in a time of crisis. When we’re in some kind of life-threatening danger, a hero is an ordinary person who does something extraordinary. In the normal course of events, in a small town, a hero can be almost the opposite. A hero can be an extraordinary person who does something ordinary….

We often hear people lamenting – mostly politicians – that manufacturing in America has hit an all-time low. The catch-cry you hear frequently repeated is, “we don’t make anything here anymore.” Here in Acadiana we know that’s not true. We make pretty much everything. On this edition of Out to Lunch Aileen Bennett sits in for…

If you travel around Louisiana, you see enormous differences from north to south. And even more from east to west. It’s always been this way, to some extent. But the differences have arguably never been as extreme as they are now. Here in Lafayette, and in Acadiana in general, we’re going through some pretty major…

Just 135 miles apart, a 2 hour sprint on the interstate or a scenic ramble on the 90, New Orleans and Lafayette are two of America’s most culturally interesting cities. Economically, though, they’re different. New Orleans is booming and growing while Lafayette is facing headwinds from a depressed oil economy and the continuing after-effects of floods…

If you had a dollar for every time someone on radio or TV said, “Here in Acadiana we’re known for our food,”  you probably would have made about a hundred dollars this month already. You wouldn’t be as wealthy, though, if you were collecting a dollar on the sentence, “Here in Acadiana there is a sizeable…