Rice With Something On It

I'm baaaaaaack!

The Smootmobile now has an extra 3,070 miles on it, having just returned from a mission trip to southern Louisiana. There were about 45 of us who made the journey to the small town of Dulac, about an hour and a half southwest of New Orleans.

This community is primarily made up of members of the Houma Indian tribe, and they have been repeatedly devastated by hurricanes over the past few years. We had the opportunity to help with various projects to help them rebuild homes throughout the course of the week.

The United Methodists have an operation in Dulac to organize this effort for groups who come to town. In an orientation meeting, they told us that the local people may offer to cook for us while we're working on their homes, because "that's all they have to offer." They asked us to please eat the food if we're offered, because it would be insulting to them if we turned it down.

It seems that the main diet in this area consists of "Rice With Something On It." And it's not always quite clear what the "Something" might be. We were told by several people that they'll eat "anything that walks, crawls, swims or flies." So it was best not to ask specifically what might have been on the rice.

Those of you who know me are aware that I am not a bold culinary adventurer. I don't often venture outside the realm of the nacho and cheese food groups. But I did my honest best to sample the local cuisine, and I survived. Some of it was obvious, like shrimp, and it was quite good. Other dishes weren't quite as obvious.

Most of the food was seafood-oriented; shrimp fishing is their main industry. And it was cool to eat stuff that you knew was very fresh, considering you couldn't stand anywhere in town where you couldn't see numerous shrimp boats all around.

In any case, I am going to try to get through this week on a rice-free diet.