You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more delicious destination in the United States than Louisiana.
With its multinational heritage, its access to great seafood and produce and its flair for celebration, Louisiana has developed a culinary culture that is among the most prominent in North America. In many other places, food is something you stop for between activities. But in Louisiana, food is the main attraction.
Groups can find enticing culinary experiences all around Louisiana. New Orleans’ French Quarter is famous for its fine Creole restaurants, but groups can dive deeper into the area’s cuisine with a hands-on experience at Langlois Culinary Crossroads. In the area around Lake Charles, the Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail highlights one of the state’s most distinctive foods.
A number of culinary festivals and events further showcase the state’s food scene. The Louisiana Peach Festival in Ruston brings sweet, juicy goodness to summertime, and the Mudbug Madness Festival in Shreveport puts the spotlight on crawfish, a favorite ingredient in Louisiana cuisine. One of the state’s newest food events, the South Louisiana Blackpot Festival and Cookoff, highlights the Cajun flavors of Lafayette.
Culinary Classroom
New Orleans offers a nearly endless list of places to experience great Cajun and Creole cuisine. But the true food lovers in your group will also savor an opportunity to get their hands involved in creating their favorite Louisiana dishes. For that, there is Langlois Culinary Crossroads.
Located inside a former Italian grocery in the historic Marigny neighborhood, Langlois is a culinary classroom that offers a variety of interactive teaching and dining experiences for groups. Visitors can take classes that revolve around lunch, brunch or dinner, and work with the center’s chefs to create signature Creole and Cajun fare on which they then dine together.
After cooking and eating, travelers can browse the retail store at Langlois, which offers local food products and high-end cookware. The company can also take groups on culinary tours of New Orleans neighborhoods.
