Grocery Shopping in Cajun Country

When I was home this summer visiting my parents in Louisiana my mother took me with her up to the corner to her little IGA to pick up a few things she needed for supper. 

The minute I walked in the door I was fascinated. I mean really, the Stop & Shop here in Yankee Land?  That place has nothing on Momma's store.

You are greeted at the door with a free cup of Community Coffee. How sweet is that? Nothing, and I do mean ab-so-frickin'-lutely NOTHING, is free where I live. That would just be nice and Yankees? They really don't do nice. Unless they want something in return. And most of the time not even then.

The food is very different in the South, to say the least. Take this huge display of pork rinds for instance

I do not believe a single soul in the entire state of CT has ever tasted a pork rind. Bless their heart.

No self-respecting Louisiana grocery store would be without a vast array of Cajun cooking accouterments such as fish fry and red beans and pickled okra

Also, cornbread mix. Lots of it. 5 whole shelves of it.

And that Community Coffee that greeted you at the door? Well, you can pick you up a family size bag big enough to last the Duggar's at least 6 months.

And sausage? They've got your sausage. I do believe the holy grail of sausage resides in this very store. When I came upon it, I didn't know whether I should cross my self or genuflect or just plain STUFF MY FACE.

You've also got your Cajun mixes for those lazy coon asses who can't/won't make jambalaya, crawfish pie (me oh my oh) from scratch after shrimping all day long and then coming home to hang their wash on the line. Shame on them.

There is even a mix for dessert too, cher!

My most favorite thing in the whole entire store was the gi-normous jar of Duke's maynaise (prounounced my-neez by all real Cajuns). Honey, you have not tasted maynaise until you have tasted Duke's maynaise. I seriously stood in front of this jar of maynaise for a good ten minutes trying to figure out how I could get at least 12 of these puppies in my carry on luggage before I decided that in this post 9-11 world that was just plain foolish. Darn those terrorists for dashing my dreams.

How awesome is this industrial size can of Blue Runner beans? Blue Runner Beans are THE best beans in the world, bar none. Serve some over rice and you are an official Cajun gourmet!

And of course every self-respecting chef needs a LSU chef's hat and matching apron

I just love this homage to the humble Lance snack cracker pack.  If  there is one thing Southerners enjoy, it is snack food. This particular store did snack food PROUD with it's FINE display of Lance's yummy  goodness. I mean REALLY, have you ever seen so many packs of snack crackers in one place before?!

Check out this wine--Mad Housewife. Now that is something the North and the South have in common, I'd dare to say!

I bet your grocery store doesn't have this--

'

Don't even ask...

Apparently, LSU tiger fans do not eat just any beef patties--they eat LSU Beef Patties. The kind that "make you roar." That explains what was wrong with that guy I dated in college. And here I was thinking all this time that he just thought I was hot.

Frozen Boudin Balls? Oh, it's ON! On like Donkey Kong, my friend!

Next to the Boudin Balls in the freezer section were Chitterlings. No Chitterlings are NOT an urban myth; Southerners really do eat these things. And no, my mother was NOT picking these up for our dinner!

Every household in South Louisiana has at least 12 cans of this stuff:

Bengal Roach Spray is the only thing that will stop a ten inch flying roach dead in it's tracks. And yes, that is a problem where I come from. And yes, I love the place from which I come, flying giant roaches and all.

What Southern store would open it's doors without Honey Buns, the quintessential Southern breakfast food.  Every year on his birthday Mr. PG&S indulges in one or twelve of these bad boys.

Oh, and the HOT BAR in a Southern store? PURE D HEAVEN!

Here we've got stewed okra

and fried catfish fingers

and fried chicken

and macaroni and cheese

Look Out! You MUST get a Fancy Southern Pie for dessert. No ordinary pie will do

Unless of course, you are a true New Orleanian and are partial to a Hubig's pie. Bite into one of these puppies and you will hear angels sing.

These dried shrimp were at the check-out. I am not sure WHAT you do with them. They looked like something you would see in a Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum.

LSU Rice Krispie treats to go with your Beef Patties. Super cute for tailgating.

And moon pies? You gotta have your moon pies. With a RC Cola, of course.

Remember the post about my search for Sister Schubert's here in the great white North? Well, displays like this are one of the many reasons I'd kill to move back down South. I mean look at all the different varieties of rolls!

And the evil twin of the Lance Snack Crackers are the Snack Cakes

This store had not one kind of snack cakes but two kinds of snack cakes! I am partial to Little Debbie myself but either would do in a pinch. What Southern child does not remember bringing lunch to school as a child and eating the Swiss Cake Roll before their baloney sandwich because they just couldn't wait to dig into its chocolaty goodness?

Other things I will never see at Stop & Shop?  Poboy bread

Red velvet anything

petit fours

And Who Dat Champagne!  I just love how the label says "Bless you Boys!"

Bless you is right. Bless you one and all. And bless me as a I wander the aisles of a boring, boring grocery store where all the people around me fill their carts with Ezekiel bread and sushi and organic EVERYTHING because it is the trendy and "educated" thing to do (according to the NY Times, anyway).  And pray for me as I dream nightly of Swiss Rolls and Pork Rinds and Catfish Fingers.

In the words of the ONE AND ONLY, Southern sage extraordinare, Hank Williams, Jr., "If Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie, then I don't want to go."