A Taste of Cajun Country

I landed in Lafayette, Louisiana on the morning of the day-long Frog royalty pageants. A quick ride through the Acadian prairie along Interstate 10 led me to tiny Rayne, where I found plentiful evidence of frog love everywhere--including on the plate. I ate lunch at Gabe's, a family-owned place where the line of cars for the drive-through never ends. Blake, one of Gabe's grown children, runs the place and told me he was sad that there are no places in the US processing local frogs in volume anymore. The fat legs I was enjoying were from China. But each June, when frog season starts up, Gabe and his family go frogging to catch--and cook--the local specimens for which Rayne is famous.