NEW ORLEANS– Here in New Orleans, we sure do love our beignets! There is even a festival dedicated to beignets and its happening this weekend.
News with a Twist Reporter Kenny Lopez headed to the Southern Food & Beverage Museum to learn the history of the world-famous beignet.
Seems like we’ve had beignets for days, but how many days have they been around?
“We believe they actually came to New Orleans when the city was founded. The beignets came sometime in the early 1700’s. Nobody can give us the exact date, but we do know that it was sometime in the early part of the 18th century,” Liz Williams, President of the Southern Food & Beverage Museum said.
Williams went on to say, “The beignets are basically fritters. They are something that can be found in almost every culture, but they were originally something you could find during Mardi Gras and the day before Lent was when you’d use up your oil, eggs, flour, or sugar, and all the other things that you were going to give up for Lent.”
In the early days beignets were mostly sold on the streets until the 19th century when the world-famous Cafe du Monde and Morning Call opened up.
As time went on there are now many different types of beignets, some are savory and some are sweet. One thing will definitely remain the same and that is beignets are a delicious mess!
You can eat some of your favorite beignets this Saturday at City Park’s festival grounds for the 3rd annual Beignet Fest. There will be 30 different beignet dishes offered. Admission to Beignet Fest is free. Proceeds from the beignet sales will go to help the Tres Doux Foundation, which serves kids with developmental disabilities.
For more information about Beignet Fest, click HERE.
Here’s a look back of Kenny Lopez having some beignet fun for the first ever Beignet Fest.