By Darlene Denstorff
The Advocate
Copyright 2007 Capital City Press
All Rights Reserved
SORRENTO, La. — The aromas from pots of crawfish stew, boiled crawfish and crawfish stew made it hard for Fifth Ward Volunteer Fire Department Chief Les Ewen to concentrate on details for the Louisiana Fire Chiefs Association Conference Food Fest on April 13.
“I didn’t eat lunch and all these smells are making me hungry,” Ewen said, clipboard in hand, as he went to check on the progress of the Pierre Part Volunteer Fire Department crawfish boil.
Ewen and other area fire chiefs worked for more than a year on plans for the Food Fest, which featured cooks from Gonzales, Sorrento, Prairieville, St. Amant, West St. John Parish, Pierre Part, the Seventh District Volunteer Fire Department, Fifth Ward Volunteer Fire Department, Galvez-Lake Fire department, Avoyelles Parish fire departments and Little Caillou. The Geismar Volunteer Fire Department provided the desserts.
Ewen said firefighters and food are a “natural fit because we like to eat and we like to cook.”
Prairieville volunteer firefighter Sammy Charlet said firefighters also “like to cook as a way of giving back to people who give to us.”
Charlet, who was in charge of cooking a pot of crawfish stew, said “It puts a smile on my face when I cook for people and I see smiles on their faces.”
St. Amant resident Jimmy Babin said he always cooks “when James LeBlanc and the firemen call.”
LeBlanc, the chief of the St. Amant Volunteer Fire Department, called Babin his department’s “official cook for just about everything we do.”
Babin, who was cooking a 31-gallon pot of chicken and sausage gumbo, said he has cooked for firefighters around the country, including at “ground zero in New York” and after Hurricane Katrina.
“I get a great sense of satisfaction cooking for the firemen whether it’s at a training or after a disaster,” Babin said. “When James calls, I make it happen.”
Babin spent Saturday cooking for a retirement party for a Baton Rouge fire chief.
Pierre Part volunteers Gerald Freyou and Don Breaux said when Ewen and Sorrento Fire Chief Mike Lambert, president of the group hosting the event, asked for cooks to prepare food for the Food Fest, “We knew since we specialize in crawfish, we wanted to boil up a pot of crawfish.”
In addition to boiled crawfish, crawfish stew and gumbo, the fire chiefs dined on crawfish pies, barbecue shrimp kabobs, pork steaks, cracklin, jambalaya, brisket and fish court bouillon.
LeBlanc said the Food Fest at the Ascension Civic Center began four years ago as a way to showcase regional delicacies around the state during the state Fire Chiefs Conference.
“The way this thing is growing, it will probably turn into a contest in coming years,” LeBlanc said.