What started in 1991 as a way to celebrate three family birthdays with two pots of jambalaya has turned into a festival with 12 cooks in Sherry and Dooney Laiches’ backyard.
The Laiches’ Gonzales property was filled with small tents, cooks and jambalaya pots June 3 for the Second Chance Jambalaya Festival.
Lee Jones waits for his jambalaya entry to cook June 3 at the Second Chance Jambalaya Cook-off at the home of Sherry and Dooney Laiche.
Started in 1991, the festival has many of the features seen the larger festival held the weekend before, but has few rules for the cooks. There’s carnival food, games and music. And, a cooking contest pitting some of the area’s best cooks competing for bragging rights.
At the Jambalaya Festival, cooks prepare the rice dish over fire and use ingredients provided by the Jambalaya Festival Association. But at the Second Chance event, cooks can use their own ingredients.
The event gives jambalaya a “second chance” to win prizes for their dishes.
Winners in the Second Chance Jambalaya Festival, from left, are Matt Robert, second place; John Carpenter, third and Jason Pugh, first.
This year’s cooking contest was won by Jason Pugh.Â
In addition to the jambalaya, some cooks will prepare desserts in cast-iron pots and curly fries are a popular side dish.
The family also celebrates on New Year’s Eve with a nontraditional bonfire.
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