Cajuns Credited With Being The First People To Fry Turkeys

As Cajuns, we know our way around the kitchen. As Cajuns, we're also pretty resourceful and innovative. When it comes to Thanksgiving, we haven't sat idly by and simply accepted how the rest of the country cooks their Thanksgiving meals. For many years, we've enjoyed delicious fried turkey here in South Louisiana. It got me thinking, where did this tradition start? Could we really be responsible for bringing the world fried turkey? You got that right!

Vogue.com says that "Justin Wilson was the first person to publicly declare that he’d seen someone deep-fry a turkey back in the 1930s".

Wilson didn't say exactly where in Acadiana he was when he saw it. In the late 70s, the height of Wilson's popularity, he was one of the only chefs in America frying turkeys.

As a matter of fact, it seems that the first written record of turkey frying traces back to Church Point.

From seriouseats.com -

"In December 1982, Gary Taylor, a United Press International reporter, filed a dispatch from Church Point, a small town of about 4,500 people in southwest Louisiana. "A few daring cooks," he reported, "have developed a new way to prepare holiday turkey. They deep fry it—whole."

One chef in new Orleans is also credited with frying turkeys dating back to 1982 as well.

So as we fry up our turkeys this Thanksgiving, we can take pride in knowing that we changed this holiday for the entire country!