The minute you land in New Orleans, something wet and dark leaps on you
and starts humping you like a swamp dog in heat, and the only way to get
that aspect of New Orleans off you is to eat it off. That means beignets
and crawfish bisque and jambalaya, it means shrimp remoulade, pecan pie,
and red beans 'n rice, it means elegant pompano en papillote, funky
filé z'herbes, and raw oysters by the dozen, it means grillades
for breakfast, a po-boy with chow-chow at bedtime, and tubs of gumbo in
between. It is not unusual for a visitor to the city to gain fifteen
pounds in a week - yet the alternative is a whole lot worse. If you
don't eat day and night, if you don't constantly funnel the indigenous
flavors into your bloodstream, then the mystery beast will keep on
humping you, and you will feel its sordid presence rubbing against you
long after you have left town. In fact, like any sex offender, it can
leave permanent psychological scars.
-- Tom Robbins, from Jitterbug Perfume
clipped from: www.gumbopages.com