Louisiana Crawfish

The hunt for red crawfish is the thing, the raison d'etre, of Acadianspring.

Introduced to Louisiana by the swamp dwellers of the Atchafalaya Basin,the crawfish is a regional favorite that has spurred a $210 million industry.

Whole families work at the same fisheries, and annual crawfish festivalsdominate the social calendar.

More importantly, no matter the occasion, folkstake their boils seriously: they'll endure line cutters, heat and humidity,mosquitoes and high gas prices to procure crawfish for their families' annualbackyard boils or their corporate picnics.

Join author Sam Irwin as he tellsthe story-complete with recipes and tall tales-of Louisiana's favoritecrustacean: the crawfish.