We have good news and bad news. The good news is crawfish prices are starting to decline. The bad news is some local crawfish-centered events and restaurant specials have been canceled or delayed due to the crawdad crisis.
It’s no secret crawfish have had a heftier price tag this season. In fact, Gov. Jeff Landry issued a disaster declaration for the industry this week. Crawdad availability has been hindered by last year’s drought and high temperatures, as well as saltwater intrusion and a hard winter freeze.
“As compared to this time last year, only 10% of the crawfish have come to market,“ says Yvette Bonanno, spokesperson for the Louisiana Crawfish Promotion and Research Board.
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Bonanno is also the president of the Baton Rouge Epicurean Society (BRES), known for hosting food-themed events throughout the year to raise funds for childhood nutrition. BRES’ Crawfete, an event held at Perkins Rowe to ring in crawfish season with boils and crawfish-filled dishes, has been canceled this month.
Crawfete is one of the biggest events for the organization, according to BRES’ past president and executive committee member Stephen Hightower. But asking boilers and chefs to bring in crawfish sacks and culinary items for competitions and for attendees to enjoy didn’t seem feasible, he says.
“What it all boiled down to is that we couldn’t ask people that are already struggling thanks to the crawfish shortage to be able to participate,” Hightower says.
BRES has donated over $1 million to the community, in part thanks to its popular events. To make up for the financial loss of Crawfete, BRES is looking to its next food event, Spring Fete held at Houmas House. Though Spring Fete is usually smaller and more intimate, Hightower says the hope is to increase the event’s footprint by bringing in more restaurants and attendees to help make up a little of the loss.
“Hopefully we can double down and make (Crawfete) bigger and better than ever next year,” he adds.
Restaurants have also been impacted by crawfish prices this season. Typically around this time, Chow Yum is dishing out freshly boiled crawfish on the weekends. Its “Chow Style” crawfish has become a local favorite for its unique additions like quail eggs, edamame, mushrooms and lemongrass garlic butter.
This year, the eatery has not yet been able to offer crawfish to eager customers. But, owner and executive chef Jordan Ramirez says the restaurant has been watching the price drop and hopes to bring in mudbugs anywhere from mid- to late-March. The special is a big boost for the business, too. During past seasons, Chow Yum would go through 40 to 50 sacks on busier weekends, Ramirez says.
“It’s not the main thing we sell,” he says. “So for us, as far as the labor involved to do it, the supplies, the ingredients, the cost of crawfish has to be at a reasonable price for it to make sense for us. … I’d love to come in at our normal prices, but really the market price is going to dictate what that looks like.”
To make up for the late start, Chow Yum has been utilizing its redone patio space for outdoor dining. Ramirez hopes to start a Saturday pop-up breakfast with Social Coffee and Chow Yum’s food truck next month, too. Chow Yum also reworked its crawfish season kick-off at Beauvoir Park into the first-ever Smoke N’ Funk Fest, a barbecue and live music event. Ramirez says the Feb. 24 event was a huge success.
But, there is still hope for another local crawfish event: the Crawfish King Cook-off held downtown.
This event allows teams of boilers to compete against each other while attendees get to pick and peel crawfish to enjoy. Teams are given crawfish and space to boil. The cook-off benefits both Big Buddy and Junior Achievement of Greater Baton Rouge.
The Crawfish King Cook-off usually draws in crowds in the thousands, and this year’s event will be held in conjunction with another popular downtown event, Live After Five. Junior Achievement President Paula Dawson says ticket prices increased last year, and those prices will be the same for this event.
Dawson says she does see the possibility of having lower funds from this year’s event, though, due to the price of providing crawfish to the teams. But she feels that having the event on May 10 will be an advantage.
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“We’re already seeing crawfish prices going down a little bit,” she says. “And, I think that’ll help us out in the long run, being later in the season.”
Bonanno agrees that brighter days are ahead as we get into the thick of the season.
“Mother Nature might delay things, but she won’t keep the crawfish industry down,” she says. “We hope to end the season with more crawfish and lower prices. Be patient. crawfish lovers. They’re coming.”