No burgers but plenty of crawfish at this iconic New Orleans music festival

NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival kicks off on Thursday, bringing together a smorgasbord of the city's most iconic homegrown artists for the next two weeks.

The festival, which draws hundreds of thousands of attendees, began in 1970 as a homage to the sounds of the birthplace of jazz and other genres with deep regional roots: blues, gospel, folk, Cajun zydeco and more. It now covers a wide range of music — headliners include Pearl Jam and Lenny Kravitz alongside hometown favorites like Lil Wayne — but remains focused on celebrating local artists and culture.

''We started out to reflect New Orleans to the world but now it's just as much a part of New Orleans as Mardi Gras,'' said Quint Davis, the festival's longtime producer.

Davis also urges attendees to come hungry — the local flavors served up by festival celebrate the city's renowned cuisine just as much as its music.

What's the big deal about the food?

For some attendees, Davis says, the festival's world-class musicians provide a soundtrack for their first priority: getting their hands on the delicious Cajun and Creole meals — from pheasant, quail and andouille gumbo to pecan catfish meunière and alligator sausage — served by local vendors.

Most of the nearly 70 different vendors have been part of the festival for several decades and ''perfected their craft," said Michelle Nugent, the festival's food director.

''The menu we feature you can't find anywhere else,'' Nugent said. ''Everything is handmade and home-cooked.''

Robert Harrison III carries on the legacy of his late mother's bakery, Loretta's Pralines, which sells chocolate, rum and coconut pralines, along with a fan favorite that mixes pralines with a deep-fried dough pastry known as a beignet.

''The praline beignet — my mom was a genius for this: she took two New Orleans products that were just so French and she mashed them together,'' Harrison III said. He and his staff have spent weeks preparing thousands of pralines for the festival: ''It's something that you have to love to do — my Mom loved to do it and we do too.''

Another Jazz Fest offering to drool for is the Cochon de Lait Po Boy — suckling pig slow roasted on French bread — prepared by Walker's Southern Style BBQ.

''We dry rub all those pork butts every night and they smoke all night long,'' said Shayne Brunet, whose family has operated a stall at the festival for more than two decades. They add fresh coleslaw for crunch and the family's secret ''wertie'' sauce — what Brunet describes as ''Creole creamy'' — for a sweet kick.

''One thing you won't find there is burgers, hot dogs, pizza, French fries, any of the normal food that you can get any other festival type of place," said John Caluda, who runs a baking shop and pioneered the crawfish strudel, a festival mainstay that wins over skeptics with its contrasting, flavorful textures.

The strudel joins the pantheon of festival originals beside local chef Pierre Hilzim's "Crawfish Monica" a creamy pasta dish featuring crawfish tail meat and named after his wife. It's become one of the festival's most popular dishes and Hilzim says he requires nearly two million crawfish to satiate the appetites of festival customers.

''To be able to put a dish in the lexicon of food in this city — I'm very humbled by that,'' Hilzim said. As for attendees of the festival: ''I don't think anywhere in the world is eating better food.''

Who is playing at Jazz Fest this year?

Headliners at the festival include Pearl Jam, Lenny Kravitz, Dave Matthews Band, Luke Combs, Kacey Musgraves, Santana, Burna Boy and Lil Wayne and The Roots.

The majority of the dozens of artists playing over the course of eight days across 14 stages are native New Orleanians — Lil Wayne among them — such as Trombone Shorty, Big Freedia, Irma Thomas, Harry Connick, Jr. and Mardi Gras Indian leader Big Chief Monk Boudreaux.

This year's festival poster features local band Tank and the Bangas, whose album ''The Heart, the Mind, the Soul'' won a Grammy earlier this year for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.

Lead singer Tarriona ''Tank'' Ball, who grew up on a street called Music, first performed at the festival as a member of her high school choir. Even after touring around the world, she says there's nothing like performing for her city.

''When it comes time to be at home for Jazz Fest, everybody just wants to give a little extra magic to the show,'' Ball said. ''You want to make it extra special because your auntie is out in the crowd, your little cousins — cause it's home.''

She's also looking forward to the festival food — her family runs a fried chicken and jambalaya stand, and Ball says they'll have a plate saved for after her show.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96.