Editor's
Note: This is an excerpt from Eula
Mae's Cajun Kitchen: Cooking Through the Seasons on Avery Island,
by Eula Mae Doré and Marcelle R. Bienvenu, published by Harvard
Common Press. The book takes us through the seasons in Louisiana - in
Cajun country and this excerpt is one small taste of life in the bayous. click
for our review
Fais Do-Do
A fais do-do (FAY-DOE-DOE)
means to "go to sleep" or "sleep." But, in reality,
it's like a Cajun hoedown, a country dance. Because there were few public
dance halls, families often gathered on Saturdays, bringing all the
children, even very young babies, to enjoy eating as well as dancing.
The music, sometimes referred to by the locals as "chanky-chank,"
was provided by an accordion, a fiddle, and a "ting-a-ling,"
or triangle. The favored dance of the Cajuns is called a two-step and
is akin to a waltz, but livened up with little jig steps.
"Mais oui," says
Eula Mae, "we sometimes danced until dawn. And sometimes, we danced
outside under the trees because the houses were rather small.La poussière
- the dust- would fly under our feet!"Babies were often put to sleep in
another room with a grandmother or other older family member to keep
them quiet while the band played on. But sometimes, a mother would hold
her baby in her lap until she got up to dance, handing her child to
someone else.Oh, yes, a fais do-do was
a good time - a good time for everyone to catch up on the news, see
cousins and other relatives, and, of course, eat! More often than not,
everyone brought a dish. One family might bring a gumbo or stew; another
supplied seafood to boil or fish to fry, and there were always sweet
treats, like cakes, cookies, or some kind of dessert made with local
fruits.
Try these cajun recipes, straight
from Eula Mae herself:
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