Crawfish, music, and good times-- just the Louisiana experience

A big part of aquaculture in Louisiana is crawfish. However, it is not just a cash crop, it is part of the Louisiana experience.

Food and music are so much a part of the Louisiana way of life, songs have been written about it. At Riverside Coney Island in Monroe, the two definitely go hand-in-hand.

Tom Hardy has been serving up crawfish at Riverside since 1990. Brining that south Louisiana tradition further north. He makes the three-hour trek to Church Point, Louisiana each week during season to pick up his mud bugs-- straight from the farmer.

“Always from the farmer, we miss the middle man...” Hardy states. “I know when I get my crawfish, they were swimming today.”

So, he cleans them and they head straight for a swim in the hot tub. He has a team of boiling baristas-- although they are serving crawfish instead of caffeine. For Hardy, the recipe is not just about cayenne pepper. He has his own unique seasonings that he puts in what he calls, his “muddy river water.”

As fast as he can prepare them, they are put on platters and placed on picnic tables. Ready to be peeled and plucked from their shells, and while peeling them is considered a life skill in Louisiana and often intimidating to those who live outside the borders of the Bayou State, most say that they are worth the trouble.

While the crawfish are the crowd-pleasers, the music can be as big a side dish as the potatoes and corn. When all put together, it is the quintessential... Louisiana Saturday Night!

Check us out on YouTube

Related Stories
Malone, Senior Director of Trade Execution at Bunge, emphasized the importance of spaces where women can engage in meaningful conversations about global trade, supply chains, and leadership opportunities.
The USDA is working with 14 different states, including Georgia, to develop and implement block grants to address the unique disaster recovery needs for each state.
The decline in production marks the second consecutive year of contraction in the U.S. turkey industry.
We caught up with Karen Braun, Chief Market Analyst at Zaner Ag Hedge, at the Women in Agribusiness to discuss the data behind commodity trading.
Weston Brown joined us on Monday in the RFD-TV Studios in Nashville to share how he is preparing for the upcoming National FFA Convention & Expo.
RFD-TV Farm Legal and Taxation expert, Roger McEowen, with the Washburn School of Law, joined us Monday to break down the changes and explain what producers should know.
Beginning Farmers and Ranchers, Crop Insurance, and a Business Planning Complication
Beal joined us on Friday’s Market Day Report to discuss her election to NASDA’s presidency, challenges facing American agriculture, and her background as a Mainer and dairy farmer.
FarmHER Christina Woerner McInnis is revolutionizing soil health in Alabama with SoilKit, a cutting-edge tool.

Rural Lifestyle & Entertainment Shows
Follow Aumann Auctions coast to coast on a road trip adventure! Each episode of “Old Iron Adventures” highlights the challenges of hosting an auction. Plus, get behind-the-scenes looks, history lessons & meet a cast of very interesting characters along the way!
“Small Town, Big Deal” follows hosts Rodney Miller and Jann Carl across the country as they scour rural America for the best stories of faith, hope, patriotism, and good common sense that our small towns and farming communities have to offer.
Filmed in front of a live audience at the historic Lyric Theatre in Lexington, Kentucky, “WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour” features an eclectic array of popular artists from genres of folk, blues, country, jazz, new-age, and rock.
How do you define Texas? It starts with wide open spaces. It’s a beautiful, enchanted land full of amazing people and places. Then there are the cities and towns—big and small—each with its own culture and way of life. When you add these things together, you have an incredible mix of personalities that make Texas what it is today.
Richard “Red” Skelton, reigned as the virtual King of TV Variety Show Comedy throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Airing for a total of of 20 seasons, from 1951 through 1971, Red’s hilarious facial contortions and colorful cast of boneheaded personas – including indept Sheriff Deadeye, inebriated boxer Cauliflower McPugg, hillbilly Clem Kadiddlehopper, and hobo Freddie the Freeloader – kept a whole generation of Americans in stitches during the earliest decades of television. Memorable guest stars included John Wayne, Phyllis Diller, Mickey Rooney, Audrey Meadows, Michael Landon, and many more.