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reflected in recipes passed through the generations, like white bean and potato soup, and keks , a fried bread sweet treat. When he came upon his grandmother’s box of handwritten recipes after her death, Jarred became consumed with a passion to share his family’s German Cajun stories and dishes with the world. The resulting cookbook, Southern and Smoked, Cajun Cooking Through the Seasons provides a glimpse into the life of his hardworking forebearers who have lived, worked, and farmed along the Mississippi River for more than 300 years. While exploring the area’s history at the Louisiana State Museum, Jarred happened upon a box of old silver negatives discovered in a River Parish attic in the 1980s. He realized that they were the work of his grandmother’s first cousin, Olide Schexnayder. A professional photographer working in the area between 1880 and 1910, Schexnayder’s subject matter was often his family. Garbed in the formal attire of the day, Jarred’s 19th-century relations are seen fishing on the bayou and picnicking, complete with sticks of Andouille laid out on a picnic blanket. In 1899, Schexnayder captured a gathering on the frozen riverbank in Edgard as ice floes pass on the Mississippi. These images provide an amazing link to the past. When Jarred brought family and friends together to recreate the annual boucharie, held every February for generations, cousins produced pictures taken at the gathering in 1950. Those photographs included his grandparents, unmarried and on their way to a date in Donaldsonville. The book is divided seasonally as Jarred explained, “Exploring each season through recipes makes them more cost effective,” an encouragement to readers to eat local produce, and preserve seasonal dishes through canning or freezing. Southern and Smoked is a fitting tribute to Jarred’s Louisiana heritage and one you will be glad to share.

TONY MANDINA’S KITCHEN ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT For forty years, Tony Mandina’s Restaurant in Gretna has been known for its homestyle hospitality and unbeatable red gravy. Everyone who walks through the front door is greeted like family, because for the Mandinas, their customers are family. That is how it’s been since 1982 when, with his own two hands, Tony transformed a derelict BBQ shack into a proper restaurant. Originally intending to offer the building for lease, Tony convinced his devoted wife Grace to open their own restaurant there once construction was completed. No one in the family had any prior experience in the food business, but through trial and error and lots of hard work, Tony Mandina’s Restaurant became a Westbank institution. From freshly baked bread to meatballs with red gravy to cannoli, Tony replicated his mother’s authentic Sicilian recipes. That red gravy, made according to Mawmaw Mandina’s exacting instructions, has always been the backbone of Tony Mandina’s menu. In 2014, it became a popular grocery store item when it was made available in jars for home cooks. Through the generations the Mandinas maintained ties with family in Palermo. Their daughter, Kolette Mandina Ditta, dug deeper into their family roots in Sicily and discovered long-lost cousins in Salaparuta. This branch of the family crafted olive oil and wines from ancestral groves and vineyards in the Sicilian hill country, and Kolette began an import business to bring these special products to the United States. When Kolette and her daughter Lindsey purchased the business from the family in 2020, Tony and Grace retired to the restaurant’s “Table 41,” where they still greet guests daily.

SOUTHERN AND SMOKED ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Jarred Zeringue, born and raised in Vacherie, grew up believing he was German. The Zeringue family settled in the River Parishes in 1720, arriving directly from Alsace, a very Germanic region of France. Their heritage was

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