There's only one sit-down restaurant in Pierre Part, Landry's Seafood, serving up regional delicacies such as fried frog legs, alligator nuggets, turtle sauce piquante, and other Cajun and Creole standbys in the heart of this small Atchafalaya Basin community.
There's also only one supermarket in town, the Pierre Part Store, which sells everything from groceries to lumber, and anything else a person might need to outfit their home or camp.
One-stop-shops tend to characterize this part of south Louisiana, found on a map along the stretch of La. 70 that connects Morgan City to the Mississippi River, via the edge of the nation's largest swamp.
Driving through the Pierre Part and Belle River area, highway cruisers might note a doughnut shop, a couple of convenience stores, and a few grab-and-go places — but that doesn't begin to tell the full story of the food culture in this once-isolated community, where fishing, hunting and trapping is still a celebrated, and necessary, way of life.
On full display
That way of life, with associated dishes such as duck gumbo, wild hog sauce piquante and shrimp stew, was on full display at the Oct. 20 Firemen's Food Fest in Pierre Part. Across more than 40 tents manned by local chefs, the game and seafood being served was about as land-to-mouth as it gets, reflecting a culture not too far removed from the subsistence living practiced by the region's original Native American and Acadian settlers.
Residents like Troy Landry (only distantly related to the owners of Landry's Seafood) have represented that culture to mass acclaim in the History Channel show "Swamp People," where the Landry family and other area alligator hunters are shown turning to the swamps for food, recreation and business.
Troy Landry from Swamp People, center, greats residents while serving duck gumbo during the Pierre Part Firemen's Food Fest to benefit the volunteer fire department at St. Joseph the Worker Church on Sunday, October 20, 2024 in Pierre Part, La.. There was over 40 cooks with a large selection of Cajun Food along with a car show and bands.
Landry was at Sunday's festival, selling duck gumbo to benefit the Pierre Part Volunteer Fire Department. It didn't take long to learn the actual provenance of the ducks that went into the rich, dark gumbo made for the event.
"We killed all this on the Wax Lake Outlet, me and my boys," said Guy Landry, Troy Landry's younger brother. "Anybody can go anywhere and buy stuff. This, right here, is what it's all about."
In the tent next door, Timothy and Ginger Bryan were selling a deer sauce piquante, prepared from deer donated by another local hunter and his son.
"It's to keep the local culture," said Ginger Bryan, speaking of the abundance of game-focused dishes at the Firemen's Food Fest. "And to promote the culture of south Louisiana. A lot of people might not try deer anywhere else, and realize that they like it."
This festival may have also been unique for the sheer variety of sauce piquantes available — a "spicy sauce" and popular method for cooking down and matching the earthy flavors of game meat like wild hog, deer, alligator and turtle. It gave the event an even stronger feeling of sharing a meal at the camp, provided by the surrounding lands and waters.
Larie Sanchez serves up a bowl of wild hog sauce piquante during the Pierre Part Firemen's Food Fest to benefit the volunteer fire department at St. Joseph the Worker Church on Sunday, October 20, 2024 in Pierre Part, La.. There was over 40 cooks with a large selection of Cajun Food along with a car show and bands.
Carter Pourciau, owner of Pourciau's Lawn Service and wild hog sauce piquante chef, said that he killed the hogs in the Atchafalaya Spillway. He also regularly hunts deer, duck and squirrel.
"It's a Cajun kind of thing," he said. "We cook what we kill. And that's about it."
Gathering for a cause
It doesn't get much more Cajun than eating and celebrating together. Thousands of people gathered at St. Joseph the Worker Church to load up trays of fried fish, gumbo, pastalaya and of course sauce piquante, before digging in all together in the church hall. The festival is the volunteer fire department's biggest fundraiser of the year, and it includes an auction where community members bid for items like gravity deer feeders, outdoor furniture and grilling equipment.
"We're a total volunteer department," said Pierre Part fire chief Don Breaux, who has served in that role for over 40 years now. "This is not only a fundraiser, it's a community event. Everyone loves to do it. This is the 21st year we've done it, and the first year we made $8,000. Last year, it was just over $100,000. And it's a one-day event."
Fire Chief Don Breaux, left, talks to Darrel Rivera, right, President of the Pierre Part Belle River Museum Board during the Pierre Part Firemen's Food Fest to benefit the volunteer fire department at St. Joseph the Worker Church on Sunday, October 20, 2024 in Pierre Part, La.. There was over 40 cooks with a large selection of Cajun Food along with a car show and bands.
Breaux pointed out that Pierre Part is about 35 minutes away from the nearest ambulance, and his department relies on the community to support a team of medics, nurses and a physician's assistant that responds to medical and fire calls in the area.
"This community is such a special place, and we love to support the fire department," said Sheila Alleman, eating lunch with her family before the auction started. "During Hurricane Francine our carbon monoxide beeper went off from the generator sucking into the attic, and the fumes coming into our bedroom. When it went off I called 911, and within seconds the first guy was there. In another five minutes we had 10 guys there. It was that fast."
In a part of the country where communities have long had to sustain themselves, feeding and taking care of each other is a habit that dies hard. At the Pierre Part Firemen's Food Fest, that tradition was on display for the world to see.