Every year, folks in southern Louisiana look forward with anticipation to the arrival of spring time, when the crawfish season gets in full gear. From March to June, people enjoy this Cajun delicacy. Crawfish boils are a way of life here, for people to come together and to make a special occasion out of no occasion. When I first moved to Louisiana, My in-laws and the new friends I met told me about how they get together to eat crawfish. When I told them that I never heard of crawfish they just laughed at me, saying it was something that I had to experience for myself. A week later, I was invited to my first crawfish boil, at my in-laws house in Sunshine, a small town just outside of Baton Rouge. Coming from Tennessee, I thought a crawfish boil was similar a Tennessee -style fish fry. I’m not much of seafood eater. In Tennessee we eat more red meat then fish, but I do enjoy fish every once in awhile. On the morning of the crawfish boil, I call my mother- in- law to see if she wants me to bring a covered dish. She said, “Oh just c’mon,” meaning she had everything under control. She is a veteran of this kind of get- together, so there was no need to worry. She was on her way to Tony’s Seafood Market in Baton Rouge to pick up the crawfish. As my husband and I arrive at my in-Laws later that day, there was smoke in the yard. There was no grill, no grease getting hot, just a big gray pot cooking outside. I did not know that they made pots that big. Imagine my surprised when they threw a big bag of live crawfish into this boiling pot of water, spiced with crab boil. This concoction of Louisiana spices, gives off an aroma so strong that my eyes and nose begin to water. I was shock when my father-in- law told me he was preparing 600 pounds of the critters, for the 30 or so family and friends he was expecting. The crawfish look like little lobsters to me. I tasted lobsters before, but the favor of crawfish was totally different. But I think the difference in eating crawfish and lobsters goes far beyond the taste. Serving crawfish is a big deal. Tables are line up with newspaper, and then the host brings in large platters of crawfish. The eating frenzy begins. Crawfish eating is an art in itself.