Entomophobics: Read No Farther

Hmmm. I'd better provide a definition. Entomophobia: fear of insects

So, if you have a fear of bugs, specifically, mudbugs - stop reading here.

If you think mudbugs are awful looking things, but incredibly tasty, continue on!

I hadn't heard of mudbugs before moving to Texas. I had, however, heard of crawdads and crayfish. A word to the wise: they're all the same thing.

Along the coast, and throughout Cajun food country, mudbugs are a delicacy. So much so that Shreveport, Louisiana celebrates the creature (eating the creature, actually) every May at the Mudbug Madness Festival. Over the years, our good friends had talked about going to the festival. This year, we decided to stop talking and start eating.

The festival is crazy busy - the Festival Plaza was packed with people.

Packed with people and cooked crawfish of every variety. It was a little overwhelming.

Want to buy a hat? A tshirt? A stuffed mudbug?

How about a fleur-de-lis mudbug?

I should mention that it wasn't all about food - there were plenty of live bands playing zydeco throughout the day.

But you don't care about that, right? You want to know about the food.

Important note: we bought several things to share. Maximum taste, minimum calories. (Or so I'd like to think!)

First: Crawfish po'boy. Crisp, not greasy, fried crawfish tails, lettuce, tomato and sourdough bread. Yum. Easily my favorite of the day.

Second: Crawfish tails. All of the goodness of a crawfish po'boy, without the bread, lettuce or tomato. Or, as our friends said - maximum crawfish, minimum price.

Third: Crawfish etouffee. Tasty, but not spicy. A heavy dose of Tabasco helped. Again, as our friends said, festivals cook to the lowest common denominator - the spice-a-phobes.

Fourth: Crawfish boil. Also yummy, though not very spicy (see above comment about spice-a-phobes).

Eating a boiled crawfish is simple, but not easy. First you pinch the crawfish at the natural joint in the middle and pull it apart.

Then suck the juices out.

Finally, peel the segments to access the tender meat inside.

Optional: Ask your wife to wipe the sweat off your face. Peeling and eating in 90F+ weather is hard work.

In addition to enjoying the food, I did learn an important lesson - don't ask your spouse to pose for an anniversary photo when he's trying to eat. He'll just look grumpy.

Instead, feed him (and the entire group - unless you're interested in gaining a bazillion pounds) a fresh funnel cake.

And get a bag of hot cinnamon glazed pecans.

Then ask him to pose for a photo.

Much better.

And, I might add, a really fun way to cross the "Attend a local festival in another town" item off the 101 list!