Steph MangoldThe question I get asked the most is, “Why don’t you have an accent?” News flash, I live in the city, not in the middle of nowhere. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone from the southern part of the United States has a country accent.
Our lives do not consist of going out to Bourbon Street everyday after school and work partying the night away in an alcoholic stupor. Bourbon Street is a great and exciting place, but you won’t find too many locals there. We prefer to hang out at neighborhood places where there aren’t beads constantly flying at our faces. We do not paddle to our destinations along the bayou in a pirogue and we do not wrestle alligators and bring them home to cook for the rest of the family. We do, however, have some of the best and most flavorful foods in the entire country. Try and get past the fact that crawfish are “mud bugs” and give them a try; they are very tasty!
Don’t ever ask if we have McDonald’s, Wendy’s or KFC. You will be met with a quick reply of “Yes, we do live in the same country and have all of the typical fast food establishments.”
No matter what you see on TV, locals do not flash parts of their bodies in order to get Mardi Gras beads that are worth 10 cents. We all have to go to work the next day. Therefore, we will make sure that we don’t appear on the latest “Girls Gone Wild Video.”
Normal cake isn’t good enough for us. We go all out and eat king cakes during the Mardi Gras season. We indulge ourselves with jambalaya and gumbo while enjoying the massive amounts of floats that slowly go by.
A large majority of New Orleanians skip town during the Mardi Gras season. There are never any places to park and you also run into a huge problem like a famous New Orleans song goes, “There ain’t no place to pee on Mardi Gras Day.”
New Orleans is a great place to visit and to live, because it’s beautiful, the people are genuine and it’s unlike any other place in the country. So if you ever make it to New Orleans, don’t ask where the farm and the animals are. Just ask where you can get some good Cajun food!
Posted to the Web by: Mark Garlit
