Prairie Acadian Culture Center salutes boudin with traveling exhibit

    Boudin is to Eunice, Louisiana, as clam pizza is to New Haven, Connecticut. As the green chile cheeseburger is to Santa Fe, New Mexico. As Frogmore stew is to Saint Helena, South Carolina.

This Cajun country sausage of pork, rice, and spice is a totem of culinary identity, and a new exhibit at the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center will share its story.

    Beginning Tuesday, June 28, “BOUDIN: THE TRAVELING EXHIBIT” will make mouths water through Saturday, July 23. The free exhibit profiles the ubiquitous and beloved Cajun fast food and is the latest documentary project of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

    The Prairie Acadian Cultural Center is located at 250 West Park Avenue in Eunice. More information is available at 337-457-8499 or at www.nps.gov/jela.

    Thanks to funding from the McIllhenny Company, SFA’s work on boudin began in 2006 with oral histories of storied Louisiana boudin makers like Robert Cormier of the Best Stop in Scott, Bubba Frey of The Mowata Store in Eunice, and John Saucier of Saucier’s Sausage Kitchen in Mamou.

    The SFA’s repository of boudin-focused oral histories has grown into a standalone website complete with an interactive map at www.southernboudin trail.com . Today nearly 50 oral histories are available online. When Butterfield and Robinson’s Global Heritage Fund offered support in 2009, the SFA began developing “BOUDIN: THE TRAVELING EXHIBIT,” which draws on those oral histories to tell the tale of one of Cajun country’s iconic foods.

    The Prairie Acadian Cultural Center is managed by the National Park Service as one of six sites of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. The center features exhibits interpreting the culture of the Acadians who settled the prairies of southwest Louisiana. Folklife demonstrations include Cajun music, dancing, foodways presentations, and quilting and other handmade crafts. The center and all activities and demonstrations are free and open to the public.

    The center is open Tuesday through Friday 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. and Saturday 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.