A News Analysis by JEREMY ALFORD, Correspondent
BATON ROUGE -- If a crawfish you personally raised escapes from your pond and decides to set up shop in your neighbor’s ditch and is consequently consumed by that neighbor with a side of corn and potato, is the mudbug still yours?
While perhaps not a question for the ages, it’s among the many crawfish-related topics state lawmakers will be debating during the ongoing regular session.
What do you mean, Jeremy, that this is not a question for the ages? This is crawfish we're talking here. It's a question for the ages here in south Louisiana.
As for that crawfish on the lam, a lawmaker from Lake Charles takes the question quite seriously.
Rep. Brett F. Geymann, a Republican crustacean crusader, has filed House Resolution 7 to request that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries study the issue of "escaped farm-raised crawfish."
Didn't I tell you that our Louisiana legislators take their work seriously? Well, no, I did not.
When this happens, the "crawfish can escape their impoundments into neighboring ditches and other waterways, in much the same manner as livestock at-large," the legislation states.
"Many times, these escaped crawfish are harvested from those neighboring ditches and waterways by people other than the people who had been cultivating the crawfish for commercial purposes in private ponds," the resolution continues, "thereby depriving the farmer of his livestock and the commercial gain from that livestock."
Branding the crawfish is one solution that pops into my mind. What do you think, Rep. Geymann? Or you could order construction of more jail space and lock up the wayward critters.
Good job, Jeremy.
Mimi, is anyone who does not suck the heads allowed, under the Code Napoléon, to hold or post an opinion on this topic?
ReplyDeleteSacré bleu, Lapin! I don't suck the heads. Some folks do, some folks don't. We're allowed not to.
ReplyDeleteFirst the Sazerac and now this. Louisiana is a special place.
ReplyDeleteOh Mimi, all the flavor is in the fat that is in the head. Try doubling your intake of cold beer with the crawfish and it becomes quite easy.
ReplyDelete(I can't believe he is really proposing that!)
You told me a year or so back that you don't, which is why I asked if you are legally permitted to have an opinion on the subject of crawfish. I used to see no real point in crawfish - not like they're easy to peel, to start with - until a friend at a crawfish boil set me to sucking the heads. It's still, to my way of thinking, the only part of the little critter really worth the effort. Delicious!
ReplyDeleteFran, Louisiana is special. No question there.
ReplyDeleteJim, Lapin, I used to suck the heads, but then, I thought about what was in the head besides the good fat and juice, and I quit. It's like eating alligator meat. It tastes rather good, but it's the idea of what I'm actually eating, picturing the 'gator and all.
When I'm in restaurants, I don't squeeze the lemon wedges into my tea or water either, because I read about how many bacteria are on the lemons because of handling by the wait staff, who handle all matter of unsanitary items. Of course, the slice is already on the rim of my glass depositing bacteria, but if I take it off and don't put the juice in my drink, maybe I ingest fewer bacteria.
If all of this sounds a little paranoid, it probably is. As I grow even older than I am now, I will likely eat and drink less of a variety, as I develop more food phobias.
My aunt subsisted for quite a few years on little else but Special K and milk, and she lived past 90. It just goes to show you.
why don't I live in a colorful interesting place (with crawfish) instead of the boring Midwest?
ReplyDeleteyou give our lives such meaning.
I almost spewed Diet Pepsi all over the keyboard on reading "Well, no, I did not."
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping us abreast of vital topics, Grandmère. I believe the Laws of the Ten Tables in ancient Rome allowed gathering up fruit that falls from someone else's tree; don't know what precedent that does or does not set in the Napoleonic Code tradition. All very complex stuff. I am glad fine legislative minds are working on this.
Oh, wait. Never mind.
you give our lives such meaning.
ReplyDeleteI know, Diane. I'm always ready to put a little sparkle into the dreary lives of folks who live elsewhere.
Paul, the Napoleonic Code is a thing unto itself - very complex. Nevermind is good. I hope that I made your evening sparkle a little, too.
Oh, you did, my dear; you did.
ReplyDeleteGrandmère, This whole posting conjured up images of gangs of crawfish rustlers, especially when I got to your suggestion about branding the critters. I could imagine tiny little branding irons and those bad, bad rustlers doing things to alter the brands.
ReplyDeleteThis also jogged some long dormant memory about some crawfish farmer from years back who lured another farmers crawfish over to his side of the road by piping music into his ponds. Wouldn't that be considered crawfish rustling?
No matter, the little mud bugs are some kind of good eating!