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I am a loyal purchaser of Louisiana crawfish. I believe in my community, my state, and
our heritage. We are unique and that is what gives us an edge on the rest of the country.
People secretly want to be like us. We are fun. We can dance and make music and no where in the world is the food better or more interesting than our crawfish industry.
Some years back the country discovered cajun-style food. They franchised it, packaged it, and exploited it to the point that it has affected our own local ability to purchase and receive good crawfish.
Like you, I love to cook crawfish dishes that include peeled crawfish. I always face the delimma. Should I buy Louisiana crawfish or Chinese crawfish. The LA crawfish are $12 a pound and the Chinese are $7 a pound. I buy Louisiana.
During crawfish season I like to boil sacks of crawfish for special events.
This past year I gave a party to boil crawfish for the Super Bowl weekend.
Planning ahead I scouted prices and placed an order for 2 sacks of crawfish at a price of $1.99 per pound and then I tried to pay. They didn’t accept payment because the number of pounds are not determined until they weigh the sacks.
I returned a week later to pick up the crawfish and the price had jumped to $2.49 lb.
Since I had made plans, invited guest and prepared for the event, I was obligated to buy the crawfish.
I can tell you I was not happy. The crawfish were even small and to a true Cajun, that’s always a disappointment no matter the price.
It was a couple of months later that I realized the crawfish industry has been fluxuating the price, not by the availabilty, but by how much they could get for a particular holiday or event.
I have a message for the crawfish industry. I think I’ll buy shrimp or maybe steak for my next party. An $80 dollar sack of crawfish can easily buy some beautiful meat and if I order it a week ahead of time the price is going to be the same as when I ordered it.
This not a threat. It is reality. I am the customer. If your industry continues to sell the best crawfish to out of state people and treat local patrons like the oil companies treat us, you’ll lose.
I hate the oil companies because they have us over a barrel of oil. The prices are ridiculous with thier record profits but I have to have gas. I don’t have to eat crawfish.
If you lose me as a loyal customer, how many more will you lose?
I realize everyone has to make a living and I don’t believe it is the crawfishermen nor do I believe it is the end seafood retailer manipulating the price. Like always, I believe it is the middle man. Manipulate the price. Make the commission.“Don’t worry they are going to buy the crawfish anyway,” is today’s crawfish brokers mentality.
Steak is sounding better and better and I don’t have to speak Chinese to buy crawfish for
my stews.
I am so disappointed I have take it up the wazzu for my taxes, my fuel, and the simple pleasures of consuming the
flavor of Louisiana. I hate the idea that I’ll have to make a choice. But I will!
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