♪ uptempo mandolin ♪ add bass Mmmmmmmm!

♪ (glasses clink) ♪ [Brandy Yanchyk] I'm a journalist and I'm traveling across the United States of America.

On this journey I'll be visiting some iconic American experiences.

My next stop is Louisiana.

♪ ♪ Dixieland jazz I've come to Louisiana.

This place is famous for the Mardi Gras, New Orleans fun, plantations and the bayou.

While I'm here I'll be traveling across the state and meeting the people who make it so unique.

♪ ♪ While I'm here in New Orleans I had to try the legendary po' boy sandwich and I've come to Mother's Restaurant.

This place has been serving this delicious meal since 1938.

And I'm with Alex Salas.

He works here.

Alex, tell me, what is a po' boy?

A po' boy is basically a French bread that has some sort of filling to make the sandwich.

And basically, it goes back to the early days of during 1929 there was a streetcar strike and the conductors, they had no money.

So local restaurants would just get some French bread, throw some French fries, some gravy on top and get and give it to them and say, look at them po' boy go.

Ok, so "poor boys" became po'boys?

Correct.

So interesting.

So here at Mother's, do you have a special po' boy?

Well, we have here what's called the Famous Ferdi.

And basically the history of this po' boy is it goes back to the early days at Mother's with the original owner, Simon Landry.

And he would carve all our meats here in the back of the line here.

And we had a local customer by the name of Ferdi, and he came in and asked Simon for a ham and roast beef po' boy.

But then he says, put some of that debris on top.

And that was all the bits and shreds and juices that would sit on the bottom of the pan so Simon drizzled it on there.

It became hence, the Famous Ferdi.

Yum, sounds delicious.

Okay, so what do we do here to start the po' boy?

So what we gonna do here is going to take your bread and for a New Orleans po' boy you want to use French bread.

It's crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.

And it has all these pockets of holes of air in there that makes it light and fluffy so when you when you build your sandwich and your sauces on there, it helps soak up the yummy goodness.

Okay.

And what do we put in it?

So for the Ferdi, what we're gonna do is you got, you got your bread and we take a take a good lather of mayo on there and do some yellow mustard.

You gonna get some Creole mustard.

Then you gonna get some, some cabbage.

Oh, I love cabbage.

This cabbage, we don't use lettuce.

We use cabbage because it gives it some texture and crunch.

You got your pickles.

[Brandy] Oh, I'm getting hungry, Alex.

[Alex] You could put as many or as less as you like.

I like, I like with pickles...

So do I.

Now we're going to start buildin' our sandwich.

So you're going to take your ham... and we gonna layer the ham.

This, this ham is so awesome because we make it in-house.

It's just a fantastic, everybody always asks.

What's your secret to the ham?

But if I tell ya', I gotta kill ya'.

(laughs) I absolutely adore ham.

I think it's like, my favourite kind of meat.

So... Now we got our roast beef.

Now we cook roast beef overnight low and slow.

So everything is made in-house.

[Brandy] This is a lot of meat on one sandwich.

[Alex] Oh, yeah.

You don't mess around.

Nope.

I'm going to take my knife.

Take your plate.

And then this is where we take the good stuff on here.

OK.

So this is our our debris.

This is, we cook this beef overnight till it turns into shreds in its own au jus.

So it's kinda like a French dip, basically.

So we take a good spoonful.

Wow... And then put a little extra love right there.

[Brandy] Oh...hoo-hoo-hoo!

And there you go, the Famous Ferdi.

Oh, wow.

You know what, I really want to taste this with you.

Can we go over to one of the tables?

Excellent.

Let's do it.

All right.

Alright Brandy, before we get started, you gonna need yer napkin or I like to call the drop-cloth Okay... and you're gonna see why, because this is going to, you got to go all in and you're gonna get some - some yummy goodness runnin' down your arms, on your... it's gonna drip on your napkin or your shirt.

You might even wanna lick your arm so that you won't lose that yummy goodness.

(laughing) Okay, I'm gonna jump right in here Alex.

Just go all in.

Wow.

Lookit all this.

It's so, so wet on the bottom, all the juice.

Mmmm...mmmm You got some good stuff.

[Brandy] So, I love the meat and I love all these different... textures.

You have the ham, the roast beef.

I love the cabbage, it gives it a crunch.

Oh, yeah.

In this sandwich, you can taste a whole, the whole marriage of flavour of the ham, the mayo, the pickles, of the brine, that crunch of the cabbage, the, the, the little kick of that Creole mustard in that debris.

It's just fantastic.

Oh the debris is the best.

Y'know, I love meat.

This sandwich... is next level Alex.

I wanna thank you so much.

Oh, yeah, definitely.

This is fantastic and... Yeah, a real po'boy right here.

You eat a whole one of these you're gonna go into a comatose and you're gonna go and nap it off.

(laughing) I can't wait.

♪ Every year, millions of people come to Louisiana to experience Mardi Gras.

There are beautiful parades and costumes, and one of the groups I wanted to meet are the Mardi Gras Indians.

And I'm with Keelian and Shawmika Boyd.

They are Mardi Gras Indians.

Tell me what that means to be a Mardi Gras Indian?

To be a Mardi Gras Indian and we are also called Black Masked Indians it's a beautiful thing.

It started a long time ago.

I mean, I have heard maybe back to 1718.

It started with runaway slaves during a transatlantic slave trade.

The indigenous people of Louisiana protected them.

You know what I'm sayin', dressed them as they own, took 'em in.

The cultures of the West Africans and the culture of the natives eventually brought on a new, a new look.

It started back then.

It carried out being that at times... segregation and all that was goin' on.

Blacks couldn't really go to a regular parade.

So this was somethin' that was done on a back streets of New Orleans and it just never died.

Wow.

And today, these suits are created from the different groups.

How many Mardi Gras Indian groups are there?

They have forty-two tribes, forty-three with us.

OK. OK. And Shawmika, describe the costumes or the suits that people wear?

All right.

So basically on Mardi Gras, the city is divided into two sections.

There's uptown and there's downtown.

Downtown, Mardi Gras Indians sew in three-dimensional pieces.

There's little small pieces that make kinda like sculptures.

Uptown tribes, they sew on flat patches.

Their suits more or less tell a story and they are more traditional Native American.

So as we see the orange suit behind us, that's from an uptown tribe.

We use a lot of stones, Swarovski Crystals and um, pearls to make our suits.

So they kinda blow up basically.

[Brandy] One of the interesting things that I found was that you offer a program called Sip & Sew where people can learn about the Mardi Gras Indians.

Tell me about it.

So we offer Sip and Sew, our tribe Young Maasai Hunters, um... it's where normal folk, anyone, children, adults can come in and learn how to sew patches similar to the patches sewn on Mardi Gras Indian suits.

Ok. And we're going to do that here or we're gonna try, right?

I don't know.

My skills are OK.

Perfect.

Let's, let's start.

What're we looking at?

All right.

So this is a flower and it's on canvas.

This is what we use when we are creating our suits.

We start the design on canvas.

[Shawmika] I'm gonna start by puncturing a hole in the top of the design and if you turn it over you'll be able to see the hole.

You're gonna put the needle through and bring it all the way... to the end.

All righty, and when you're doing the bead, the sequin, it's a cup and saucer technique, so you wanna place the sequin cup-side up and place the needle through the hole and put a bead on top.

So the bead is what's gonna hold the sequin in place.

If we don't put the bead, the sequin will come off.

And you bring it all the way down.

All right.

So you're gonna put the needle through the hole of the sequin and pull it through the back.

And how did you become a Mardi Gras Indian?

Well, I met my husband at age fifteen.

I lived in the Lafitte Housing projects on Orleans Avenue.

So Mardi Gras Day, I was always involved with Zulu Parade.

And we met... he kept sayin', y'know, I do the Mardi Gras Indian thing and my family is involved.

And you should come and see.

And I was like ah nah, I think I'll just do Zulu, you know, my normal tradition.

Well, as it was approaching Mardi Gras, he was like, you know, you really need to come and see.

And I'm like, well, I guess so I'll, I'll try it out.

And I went out there and heard the tambourines and the music and seein' all the people meetin' each other and seein' how elaborate the costumes were and intricate the designs.

And I just fell in love with it.

And I've been doing it ever since.

I haven't seen Zulu since age fifteen and I'm thirty five.

So, yeah, it's been a long time.

Wow.

And he... And you got married, too, right?

Yes.

We got married.

We have four beautiful children and our children mask as well.

[Brandy] Wow.

And I can tell that this takes a long time and a lot of skill.

Yes.

And I want to thank you so much for sharing your culture with me; both of you, and for letting me see this.

I mean, next time I go to Mardi Gras, I'm going to have a better insight into what's really happening.

And anytime you're in New Orleans, you're welcome to come on over.

Oh, thank you.

(laughter) Can't wait to try that sip-and-sew.

We'll be glad to have you.

♪ ♪ loud Dixieland brass band My next stop in New Orleans was the Sazerac house.

Here I learned about Louisiana's cocktails and tried a Sazerac.

It's known as the official cocktail of New Orleans.

Oh, that's delicious.

There's a reason it's the official cocktail.

MMMMmmmm... ♪ continues... Then I headed out into the city enjoying the nightlife and live music.

♪ ♪ slow acoustic guitar The next morning, I travelled 46 miles west to Louisiana's river parishes.

This area is home to multiple plantations.

Visitors can tour the historic homes and grounds and learn about the massive sugar cane plantation system and its slave labour, which started in the early 1700's.

♪ I really wanted to learn more about the history of Louisiana.

So I've come to the St. John the Baptist Parish and I'm with Joy Banner.

She's the director of communications at the Whitney Plantation.

Tell me what people can learn when they come here?

So Whitney Plantation is the only plantation museum with an exclusive focus on the lives of the enslaved people.

So it is our mission to inform our visitors about the labour of the enslaved Africans and their descendants.

Also, we talk about the agricultural system, sugar cane, indigo and rice, and also too this is a space of memory and reverence.

So we have several memorials through the grounds where people can pay homage to the slave people who laboured here.

Tell me a little bit about the timeframe of when the enslaved people would have been here?

So they enslaved people come early in the 1700's and slavery lasts until 1865.

So that's quite an extensive history during slavery times.

But what most people don't realize about these plantations is that they still go on after emancipation.

So there's quite a bit of time after slavery.

So part of the education and part of what people learned through this tour is that that system of exploitation still continues in a different form.

Wow.

And you grew up in the parish.

What's your connection to the plantation?

Hey, so I'm a descendant of Whitney Plantation, and we are among a community of descendants.

So most people can trace their roots back to the 1700's to several different ships so I can trace my ancestry back to the first Germans that came here in the 1700's, the first Africans, French, the Cajuns.

So, yes, most people are not only descended from one plantation, but from several different plantations that are open and still touring.

Wow.

[Joy] So this is the 'big house' at Whitney Plantation.

And when most people think of plantations, they think of the plantation home.

Here at Whitney we focus on the other side of plantation life.

So we want people to understand that these big elaborate homes and the people that lived inside of them were able to obtain homes like these and beautiful grounds because of the enslavement, the forced labour of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people that were never able to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

[Brandy] And do you think that people are aware of this history or interested in this other side of plantation life?

[Joy] People are interested.

They're interested in the truth.

We, we definitely see our visitors embracing or wanting to know more.

They're less interested in the architecture of the house of the... furniture that's in there.

But they want to know a side of American history that they haven't heard before.

[Joy] So we're here at the slave quarters at Whitney Plantation.

This cabin and the one next to it is original to Whitney.

The enslaved people would have lived in the quarters, now the original quarters were located a half a mile away from the house.

The enslaved people are working schedules that they call “from can't see to can't see”.

So before the sun rises and after the sun sets, they're often working.

And when you're not working, they are here in these cabins.

And so this is their space as much as it can be.

[Brandy] And how does it feel, having grown up in this area so close to the plantations and to have actual ties to it?

So I'm immensely proud of my ancestors.

They had to be resilient.

And so I'm very proud to tell their story.

It gets emotional at times.

But, you know, I encourage everyone to embrace this history and be inspired by not only their labour, but just the, you know, their intelligence, their ingenuity, their resourcefulness.

These were experts, craftsmen, artisans.

I'm inspired and I'm very proud to be a part of Whitney.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and all of this knowledge with me.

It's been a really eye-opening experience.

Well, thank you, Brandy, for visiting and come back anytime.

I will.

♪ One mile up the road is the Fee-Fo-Lay Cafe.

It's owned by descendants of the Whitney Plantation Joy Banner and her twin sister Jo Banner.

One way to learn about culture is through food.

So I've come to the Fee-Fo-Lay Cafe and I'm with Jo Banner.

She owns this cafe, which is in Saint John the Baptist Parish.

Tell me a little bit, Jo, what does Fee-Fo-Lay mean in the first place?

Fee-Fo-Lay is a legend.

It's a Creole and Cajun legend.

It's a light that haunts the swamp.

So the trick is when you're in a swamp and you see it, you know, if you follow it, it could lead you to Jean Lafitte's treasure or it could lead you to danger.

So no one knows until you actually follow it.

OK, so you're telling me that around this parish there's some gold or some sort of treasure?

I think so.

I haven't found it yet, but I will let you know when I do.

OK. Well, it could be this food.

So tell me what we're gonna be cooking here.

So today we're gonna cook a Louisiana favourite, which is the praline.

Pralines are a candy that actually came from France.

When they were in France the first people came over, they used almonds because that was more prevalent.

When it came to Louisiana they used pecans because that's what we have over here.

So they added the pecans, they add a little bit more cream and that made the famous Louisiana Creole creamy praline.

And where did you get that recipe?

This recipe was handed down, really from my grandmother who got it from her grandmothe.

And so the recipe, we figure, is about 150-plus years old.

Mm hmm.

Okay.

What's the first step?

The first step is we're gonna add our sugar and we're gonna add our milk together.

We're gonna put it in this kettle and let it agitate and let it come up to a certain temperature and then we can go on and add our other ingredients.

[Brandy] Why did you decide to have a cafe, Jo?

I decided to have this cafe because I really wanted to express this side of our culture.

I felt the cuisine would be a perfect way, such as the tea cakes, and the pralines and also the folklore such as the Fee-Fo-Lay.

And I thought it was important for us to have the say in our history especially bein', I'm descended from a different plantation such as Whitney Plantation next door.

[Brandy] Wow.

So, Brandy, we have a few more steps to finish our pralines.

One very important step is adding our butter.

So we're gonna go ahead, add that to the pot.

Careful of the splash.

[Brandy] Wow, that's a lotta butter.

Yeah, it makes it extra creamy.

And then how long do we wait for this?

So we're gonna allow this to cook for maybe another ten minutes and then we can add our pecans.

[Brandy] Mmmmm... (machine whirring) We're gonna add our... vanilla flavouring.

Mmmm.

[Jo] So we're gonnago ahead and turn this off since it's reached its temperature and is ready to pour.

Wait till it gets just right.

So what I'm gonna do is just move this right here and gonna put this in right here.

Right, that is enough.

[Brandy] Whoa, that's gonna be heavy.

It will.

Thank goodness I have these strong arms and I'm gonna move this over.

Wow!

And Brandy, you could just help me - take some out - and just put a spoonful, just like this.

And you put sort of wax paper down?

We put wax paper down just so we don't have the pralines to stick.

And we just pour out 'til... there is no more left, of course.

[Brandy] I think I'm going to be here all night (laughs) because this is a lot like...

This is a lot in here!

Yeah...

So it's a big batch and we have to do everything big in Louisiana.

I see that.

Brandy, I think our pralines are ready so let's go ahead and taste.

Wow... Just remind me, what's the ingredients again?

So we have pecans, we have butter.

We have sugar and we have some vanilla flavouring.

Wow.

Let's do it, mmm...MMM!

It's really amazing, just melts in your mouth.

Right.

Creamy, buttery, it's perfect.

Oh yeah and I love the different textures.

M-hm.

Well, thank you so much, Jo, for letting me have this tasty treat from your great-great grandmother.

Yeah.

Thanks for helping.

You can cook.

Yeah, it's a lot of work.

(both laugh) But worth it.

Cheers!

♪ ♪ uptempo electric guitar The next day, I travelled 101 miles west to the city of Lafayette.

It's known as the heart of Louisiana's Cajun and Creole country.

At the Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folk Life Park I learned how to make traditional gumbo and had a journey into the past.

The museum preserves the cultures of the Native Americans, Acadians, Creoles and peoples of African descent who lived in the Attakapas region through the end of the 1800's.

Next, I went to downtown Lafayette to learn more about the music scene.

While I'm visiting Lafayette I really wanted to learn about the Creole and Cajun music that's so popular here.

I'm with Anya Burgess; she is a musician and also owns a wonderful violin shop.

Tell me a bit about what's the difference between Creole and Cajun music?

So Creole and Cajun music both come from the same place.

They have very similar roots.

When the Acadians were kicked out of Canada in the late 1700's, they brought their music with them.

And when it arrived, different influences affected the music.

So Creole music has a lot of blues, jazz, Caribbean African-American influence and Cajun music has a lot borrowed from American country music, Texas swing, but there's a lot in common between the two.

Ok. And I'm just curious... at the shop, what exactly do you do?

So here at Sola Violins, we do a lot of repair and restoration of older instruments.

We also sell new and antique instruments and then we have a big rental program.

So Brandy, I'm gonna play you a tune.

It's called The Squirrel Song.

It was written by a band mate of mine.

And you're definitely going to hear some blues influence in this tune.

But it's a, it's a newly composed Cajun tune.

So here we go!

Wonderful.

♪ ♪ I love it Anya, it's beautiful.

I just wanna dance and party all night long.

It's great.

It's dance music.

That's what this is.

And I love the instrument.

Where did you get this?

So this is a violin that I made.

I'm also a trained violinmaker in addition to running the shop.

Wow.

You are so amazing.

Thank you for inviting me here.

And I've got to learn so much about music and instruments.

It's been incredible.

Yeah.

It's been a pleasure having you.

Thank you.

♪ violin To get to my final destination in Louisiana, I travelled 102 miles southeast to the city of Houma.

I wanted to learn more about the state's Indigenous culture so I met up with Jamie Verret Luster.

She is a master Palmetto Basket Weaver and cultural preservationist of the United Houma Nation.

After visiting with her and her family, I ventured out onto the bayou.

♪ (airboat motor) One of the best ways to explore Louisiana is on the water.

And I've come to the Houma area.

I'm with R.J. Molinere.

He is a United Houma Native American who takes tourists like me out on the water to explore this beautiful bayou.

RJ, tell me about the Houma area?

The Houma area, tell you what, it's a beautiful place to come see.

You have to come and check it out because you'd be surprised of what you're gonna see out here.

We might see an alligator and if we don't see an alligator.

There's enough birds and turtles and you name it that we're gonna see.

So that's what's special about comin' out to Louisiana and especially in Houma.

And I know like people want to have an Indigenous Native American experience when they come here.

And you, you come from the United Houma Nation.

Can you tell me a little bit about what it feels like to be Native American in Louisiana now?

Being Native American in Louisiana now is different than years back.

You know, I'm proud to be Native American now.

You know, at times when I was younger, it was different.

But now, I mean, I'm a proud Native and I'm proud to say it, because when I do bring people out on a tour, I see things like plants.

I'll tell you about our birds.

I'll tell you about.

And so there's a lot of thing that I was taught from the old people, and I kept that.

So that's the thing that you're gonna get with me.

Wow.

RJ, I wanna explore this beautiful area.

So let's get to it.

All right.

Let's do it.

Put on my earphones.

All right!

(laughs) ♪ (airboat engine) [RJ] There's a great white heron over here, sittin' up there just feedin' away.

It looks like it's sittin' in pretty good buffet right there where it's at because it just keeps on just peckin' away.

It's eatin' good.

Mmmm.

Nobody goes hungry in Louisiana.

No, no.

Not even the white heron.

Y'know, there's a buffet everywhere in Louisiana.

Anywhere you wanna go.

(laughs) ♪ Right in front of us there's a small alligator.

'Bout, I'd say about maybe four feet.

And we're gonna approach it to see how close I can get to it.

[RJ] I see it, see it?

Right there.

[Brandy] I can see his eyes.

[RJ} Yeah, you see his snout?

♪ [Brandy] Well, thank you so much for taking me out here and teaching me about your world, your culture.

We saw alligators, birds and crabs.

Amazing.

That's it.

Thank you.

You're very welcome.

♪