Springtime Festivals

• The southern Louisiana town of Scott hosts the three-day Scott Boudin Festival during the first week of April. Each year, Scott produces over 1 million pounds of boudin, a Cajun stuffed sausage.
  Kaplan hosts its own April food festival, the Louisiana Cajun Food Fest, which includes vendors lining the downtown street and live musicians.
  The Crawfish Festival takes over Breaux Bridge in the first weekend of May. Established in 1960, the event allows visitors to sample Cajun crawfish in all of its delectable forms, including crawfish etouffee, crawfish bisque and the traditional boiled crawfish.

Savory Cajun Summer

• Visitors to New Orleans's Cajun-Zydeco Festival, a celebration of Louisiana music held in mid-June, can sample an array of Cajun fare at two food festivals held concurrently in the same neighborhood. The Louisiana Seafood Festival promotes some of the chief components of Cajun food, like crab, catfish and oysters, while the Creole Tomato Fest celebrates the importance of tomatoes in Louisiana cuisine. Those who appreciate blackened catfish and Cajun shrimp can check out the Louisiana Catfish Festival at Des Allemands in late June and the Shrimp Festival at Delcambre in mid-August.

Cajun Fall Flavors

• The Cajun Food Fest in Lydia, held in mid-September, celebrates Cajun cuisine in all its forms. Cajun chefs flock to compete and offer their takes on traditional dishes like red beans and rice and fried alligator. One of the most renowned Cajun creations, gumbo, gets its own festival during the second weekend of October in New Iberia. The World Championship Gumbo Cookoff features dozens of teams serving up tasty examples of the distinct spicy stew, along with other dishes like jambalaya and boudin.

Warm Up at Winter Festivals

• The Festival of the Bonfires in Lutcher pays tribute to the Cajun tradition of using bonfires to light the way to Christmas Eve Mass. This festival also celebrates Cajun cuisine with a gumbo cook-off, a junior gumbo cook-off and Cajun standards like po-boys, jambalaya, and red beans and rice.
  Foodies who appreciate oysters can explore the Cajun take on this seafood staple at the Louisiana Oyster Jubilee. Held in New Orleans at the beginning of March, chefs line up along Bourbon Street to present attendees with an array of savory oysters, including specialties like Cajun fried oysters and Cajun oyster pie.