The key to New Orleans food culture is New Orleans people, the passion they put into it the way they entwine food with their own family traditions and social rituals. It goes beyond craving and becomes culture, and individuals become emblematic of that culture.
For crawfish in New Orleans, that was Al Scramuzza, the self-proclaimed emperor of crawfish.
If you haven’t heard, he died last week at age 97. But of course you’ve heard. When New Orleans loses one of its cultural legends, it’s a big deal. And when it comes to crawfish there was none bigger than Scramuzza.
Starting in the 1950s, he introduced a generation to crawfish back when the idea of a boil was a rustic custom, something associated with Acadiana before Cajun country and the Creole city were as closely connected. He helped bring crawfish from the backwaters to the mainstream.
That evolution could not have been the work of one person, but there’s no doubt that Scramuzza was the face man for the rise of crawfish, the booster of the boil during its growing fascination in New Orleans.
His home base was the sprawling market Seafood City – and some out there still know the old address, because he made it an ear worm in his marketing – 1826 North Broad.
His boil recipe was secret, though you can still try it out at his grandson’s market Scarmuzza’s Seafood in Kenner. But the man’s approach was unvarnished. As an entrepreneur he married an almost religious zeal for his product with unhemmed hutzpah.
He wrote, directed and starred in his own TV commercials, like the Mel Brooks of mudbugs. He donned a white lab coat and made far-fetched health claims about the virtues of crawfish, for everything from body aches to infertility.
He was a master of jingles. “Seafood City, very pretty,” “Stick with Scramuzza and you’ll never be a looza.”
If crawfish is in your plans this weekend, peel one, or boil a sack or devote the whole pirogue load to the late great Al Scramuzza
Do that, and whatever else happens with you boil, you’ll won’t be a loser.
