an ACADIA PARISH article

Cultures of Acadiana
a look at the French, Cajun, Creole, and Native American cultures of south Louisiana
(a project of Carencro High School - 721 West Butcher Switch Road, Lafayette, LA  70507)

Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, August 26, 1997

Frogs leaped onto Louisiana dinner tables long ago

by Jim Bradshaw

Historical documents place bullfrogs, or ouaouarons, on the Louisiana dinner table as early as the 1750's. The early French settlers were not familiar with the delicacies of frog legs, but they were also desperate to eke out a living in hard surroundings. Along with crawfish, alligators, crabs, and turtles, frogs became a part of the Acadian cuisine, and spread onto their neighbors' tables.

Frogs also became a money-maker. Donat Pucheau, a native Frenchman who settled in Rayne in 1887, was the first to start shipping live frogs to restaurants in New Orleans and back to his native France. Soon after, another Frenchman named Jacques Weil and his brothers, Edmond and Gontran, began what developed into a huge frog shipping business that in fact made Rayne the Frog Capital of the World. Jacques became the senior partner in the firm of Jacques Weil, Boudreaux, and Leger. The firm at one time shipped out as much as 10,000 pounds of frog legs in a week, as well as poultry, eggs and produce for New Orleans and other markets.

The frog shipping season began in late February and reached a peak in April. During the first spring like nights, hunters would stalk the coulees and shallow waterways of the parish with lighted lanterns and burlap sacks. The light blinded the frog and immobilized it, so that the hunter had only to pick it up and plop it into the sack. The night's catch was kept in a cool place until there were enough frogs to take to the market at Rayne.

Frog legs were the reason for the frog business. But the hides brought a few bucks, too. As the frogs were butchered and skinned, the hides were put into barrels and covered with salt. They were sent to tanneries to be made into purses and other leather goods.

In the summer of 1906, the Crowley newspaper reported that 9,000 pounds of frog skins, taken from 64,854 frogs, had been shipped from Crowley.

This article is copyrighted © by the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser and is used with permission.  This web site was originated through a grant awarded to Carencro High School (Joel Hilbun/Bobbi Marino, Grant Administrators) by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund - 8(g).