A Bite To Eat: Magic Dust
We knew we had come to the right place when the sign on the building said,
”Fremin’s Food and Furniture”, but I’m jumping way out ahead. The path that led us here started with lunch on the banks of Bayou Teche.
We had just rolled into New Iberia, Louisiana. My daughter and I were on the latest leg of our book tour for Jean Laffite Revealed (a tour we had jokingly renamed the Two Blondes and a Buccaneer Tour) and New Iberia would be our home for the weekend. We were featured presenters at the Books Along The Teche Literary Festival.
But first, lunch. We settled in at a table at a local restaurant without giving a thought to whether or not the food would be good. We were in the heart of Acadiana. Around here, “good” is the only thing they know how to cook.
Ashley ordered fried shrimp and I asked for a fried chicken sandwich - knowing full well that the Cajun version of each would be spectacular - and we were right. And when the food arrived, instead of picking up the salt and pepper on the table, I reached for a large cylinder of seasoning that bore the name “Magic Dust”.
The label said it was made right here in New Iberia, so if they said it was magic, I believed them. These are the people who make Tabasco Sauce just down the road, and bring Steen’s Cane Syrup to grateful cooks the world over a few miles away in a neighboring town.
Of course it was going to be the bomb. How could it not be? We hit everything on our plates with the stuff and dove in. After the first bite, we said it in unison: “Oh my God - what IS this?”
Fremin’s Magic Dust - aside from being magic, is a delicious blend of salt, red and white pepper, onion, garlic, paprika - and sugar, lots and lots of sugar - specially blended in just the right proportions so that no matter what you choose to grace with it, the end result is a Cajun version of “Oh Happy Day”.
Grabbing the container for a detailed look, we discovered “www.fremins.com” front and center, which led us to a website, and eventually to the front parking lot of Fremins Food and Furniture in New Iberia later that afternoon.
In addition to every sort of authentic local Cajun food known to man - fresh, frozen, canned, bottled and packaged - there was an entire end-cap display of nothing but Magic Dust. If memory serves, we could have walked out of there with a 25-lb sack of it slung over our shoulder, but we exercised restraint.
Since we weren’t in the market for any furniture that day, I can’t speak to the other end of their business. I did notice a new advertisement recently, though, with their big announcement that now you can buy Magic Dust at their gas station as well. Oh, and the website promises something called Fremin’s Fireworks, so add pyrotechnics to the list.
Maybe they’re hedging their bets in case the magic ever wears off and they have to fall back on furniture and gasoline and cherry bombs to make a living, but if you ask the two blondes who came back across the Gulf Coast with about ten pounds of their secret blend stashed in their luggage, hell will likely freeze over before that day comes.
Photo via The Daily Iberian.
And don’t take our word for it. You can click on the link in this post and go shopping for Magic Dust yourself. No need to thank us, we’re happy to spread the gospel.
