JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – We could also be in Jacksonville, however that doesn’t imply we will’t have fun Mardi Gras.
Monday marks Lundi Gras, a day of celebration earlier than Fats Tuesday.
Though there aren’t parades right here regionally, The Morning Present was in a position to carry a few of the tradition to Monday’s present. We had been ready have a look into the historical past, traditions, and meals surrounding the holiday–as effectively as style testing it.
As somebody who spent practically a decade in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I used to be excited to return throughout an genuine Creole and Cajun-style meals truck in Jacksonville.
Jeff Lavender is a local of Louisiana and went to the identical school as me, Southern College A&M. He helped take me again to my Louisiana roots and cooked up a few of the in style dishes from Louisiana whereas giving us a historical past lesson.
His meals truck The Gumbo Man has a variety of menu choices from pork chops to shrimp po’boys. Nevertheless, he confirmed his seafood choices.
First on the menu was his shrimp and crawfish etouffee, which is certainly one of Louisiana’s hottest dishes, particularly throughout the season of Lent when many Christians quit meat on Fridays.
“Nicely, Mardi Gras is Fats Tuesday, and Fats Tuesday is principally you’re fasting, you’re consuming your whole fat on that Tuesday,” Lavender stated. “Throughout that point you’re abstaining from meat. You’re fasting as much as Easter. So we eat issues like this, crawfish tails and shrimp.”
Subsequent up was the shrimp and catfish po’boy, one other Louisiana staple.
“The po’boy began in New Orleans. The blokes who labored on the road automobiles went on a strike, the union strike. It was again in 1927 or one thing like that,” Lavender stated. “The Martin Brothers had a restaurant and they might see guys on the market on strike. Again then folks would say ‘Have a look at that poor boy on the market’. Mainly, over time, the best way Louisiana talks, it simply translated to folks saying ‘Po’boy.‘”
If you want to take a look at Lavender’s meals truck, click on here for his Facebook page.
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