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Where Y’Eat: New Fest Gives Beignets Their Day

Phil Roeder
/
Flickr

Beignets these days! I mean, can you even recognize them? In case you haven’t noticed, the French donut that New Orleans made famous has been seeing a revival. There’s more places to get them, and more flavors and more different shapes and forms. 

But can beignets be burgers? Can they double as crab cakes or stand in for chicken and waffles?

That will be up for bite-by-bite analysis at the inaugural Beignet Festival this Saturday, Oct. 8, in downtown New Orleans, at Lafayette Square. Vendors at this new event will have lots of ideas for the beignet, from a traditional version to mini chocolate “beignet bites” to some truly eye-popping interpretations, as we’ll talk about in a moment.

But the festival also sets up the beignet for an altogether bigger role: and that’s as fundraising magnet. The new Beignet Festival is intended to boost awareness and bring in bucks for autism-related programs in New Orleans and support local families.  

As such the Beignet Festival is planned as a particularly family-friendly event. Kids love beignets, after all, and the day has many children’s activities. Even the time frame is early, starting at 10 a.m.

It must be said by now, the Beignet Festival is also the latest event joining an increasingly busy fall calendar in New Orleans, especially for Lafayette Square. We just witnessed the spectacle that was the new Fried Chicken Festival, and next week brings back the annual Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, all in the same downtown venue. Is there room for another? Well, if your ears perked up at the mention of beignets, that’s probably not even a question.

The appeal is hardwired in New Orleanians and head-turning for tourists. That potential of was not lost on vendors for Saturday’s event.

    For instance, Loretta’s Authentic Pralines is well known for its Creole candies. But last year, Loretta’s crossed them with beignets, creating its praline beignet as a festival snack. It was such a hit, Loretta’s went further with its crabmeat beignet. For this weekend’s fest, it will debut a hamburger beignet, which is a little like a slider encased in fried pastry dough.

Cruise the booths here and you’ll find a cochon de lait beignet, fried chicken and beignets with hot maple syrup, beignets with boudin, with crawfish, with oysters, with ice cream, with shrimp and corn maque choux. Still, one question that might linger from booth to booth is what counts as a beignet.

Traditionalists may argue over historic precedent, the powdered sugar quotient and type of dough.  But what makes the idea of beignets eligible as festival fodder in the first place is more about their symbolic role in our city. Beignets are more than fried dough because we say so. It's part of the way New Orleans celebrates itself and enshrines its own food emblems.

Does that definition have room for savory beignets, seafood beignets and chocolate beignets? New Orleans created this beignet craze, so only New Orleans can be the judge.

Beignet Festival

When: Saturday, Oct 8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Lafayette Square

About: Free admission. Food and drink for sale from vendors. Music from Big Sam’s Funky Nation, John Papa Gros Band, Los Po-Boy-Citos, the Confetti Park Players Chorus, Alexandra Scott. For details see beignetfest.com.

Ian covers food culture and dining in New Orleans through his weekly commentary series Where Y’Eat.

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