ORAL HISTORY

Gerald Patout

Arnold LeDoux Library - Louisiana State University

Even as a young librarian with a case of wanderlust, Gerald Patout never quite left his home base of Acadiana. While living in New York City, for example, he worked for the Domino Sugar company—a providential match seeing as how Gerald grew up in one of Louisiana’s most influential sugar-producing families. Also in New York, he taught Cajun cooking classes. Eventually he made his way back to Louisiana, first working at the Historic New Orleans Collection in the French Quarter for a decade, and then returning to Acadiana to direct the Arnold LeDoux Library on the LSU campus at Eunice. That last move brought him closer to many things of value: family, a slower pace of life, and boudin. As an academic, Gerald offers perspective regarding the cultural import of Cajun boudin, as well as theories about how its invention. As an eater, he tells us where to get some and how to serve it.