Louisiana’s association with the word “gumbo” dates back to the arrival of African slaves early in the 18th century. Torn from their homes in west Africa, few of their possessions survived the Middle Passage, but one important agricultural crop did cross the ocean to become the seed of Louisiana’s most famous dish. “Kingombo” from the Bantu languages, “ọ́kụ̀rụ̀” in Igbo, a Nigerian dialect, okra was established in the fields of the south by the mid-18th century. African cooks in Creole kitchens created a cuisine rich with their familiar vegetable — smothered okra with fresh corn and tomatoes, crisp cornmeal-coated fried okra, spicy pickled okra and of course the queen of dishes, seafood gumbo.
This Saturday, October 4, the town of St. Martinville hosts the Okra Festival. Sponsored by the African-American Museum, the festival will offer an okra cook-off, a fried okra eating contest, and music all day long in the heart of St. Martinville, on New Market Street, under the Evangeline Oak. Music begins at 9 a.m. with Lil Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Leon Chavis & the Zydeco Flames, and Sha Me Nu; judging in three categories, Okra, Chicken, and Anything Butt, takes place at 11; and the fried okra eating contest commences at 2:30 p.m. For more information, call Danielle Fontenette at 394-2230.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
At Thursday's State of the Economy luncheon, LEDA President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux said PXP has already quietly hired 180 people for its Broussard expansion.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
Louisiana’s association with the word “gumbo” dates back to the arrival of African slaves early in the 18th century. Torn from their homes in west Africa, few of their possessions survived the Middle Passage, but one important agricultural crop did cross the ocean to become the seed of Louisiana’s most famous dish. “Kingombo” from the Bantu languages, “ọ́kụ̀rụ̀” in Igbo, a Nigerian dialect, okra was established in the fields of the south by the mid-18th century. African cooks in Creole kitchens created a cuisine rich with their familiar vegetable — smothered okra with fresh corn and tomatoes, crisp cornmeal-coated fried okra, spicy pickled okra and of course the queen of dishes, seafood gumbo. 
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