“An ambience is defined as an atmosphere, or a surrounding influence: a tint.” — Brian Eno
“There is no such thing as silence.” — John Cage
Hello. We’re Snacky Tunes.
For over a decade, we’ve talked to the world’s best chefs (on our podcast from HRN) about music: the songs that inspire them, the playlists that animate their dining rooms, the bands they’ve performed in themselves. We even wrote a book about it.
Recently, beyond the precisely curated playlists and music inspirations, we’ve been interested in the elemental, discrete sounds that punctuate a chef’s day-to-day environment: the low hum of vendors haggling at the morning farmers markets, the call and response from the kitchen pass, the percussive knife chops as vegetable are prepared, the low-roaring hiss of freshly minced garlic hitting a hot, well-oiled pan, the pitch-perfect crescendo sizzling of a divinely seared steak.
In this audio column for FLOOD, we’ll explore the ambient soundtrack of a life in the kitchen. These field recordings, gathered by chefs from all over the globe, grant us intimate access to the lives of acclaimed culinarians.
To dive deeper into the subject, we recommend Kyle Chayka’s The Longing for Less.
Serving Sound 1.3: Meg Arceneaux a.k.a. The Crawfish Princess
Most people don’t know that peak crawfish season only runs about 10 weeks, from March to May. That’s when those who are serious about mountain lobsters come out to eat. These folks tend to leave the rest of the season for the amateurs. As lovers of all things crustaceans, Snacky Tunes seeks out the tastiest in the ocean and the people who take care to serve them right. It’s a short run for mudbugs, so we only want the best.
Enter Hawk’s Crawfish and the multi-generational Arceneaux family.
We interviewed Meg (a.k.a. the Crawfish Princess) and her dad a couple years back for Snacky Tunes. Since then, we’ve followed her as she took Hawk’s on the road with her Boil Up. Hawk’s Boil Up is the mobile arm of Hawk’s Crawfish in Roberts Cove, which is considered by many the home of the best boiled crawfish in the world. Hawk’s Boil Up brings the same select, hand-graded, purged crawfish to the downtown Lafayette crowd at the Acadian Superette (don’t sleep on this place either).
We went 10 for 10 weeks with Meg this season and wanted to honor this epic run in our latest field recording session. Although you missed this season, close your eyes, hear the crawfish click and clack and the roar of the propane as we start counting down the days for 2022.
About Snacky Tunes
Broadcasting since 2009, the Snacky Tunes podcast has been a weekly exploration and conversation about the cultural convergence of music and food. Over the years, co-hosts and identical twins Greg Bresnitz and Darin Bresnitz, along with Snacky Tunes co-producer Khuong Phan, have interviewed acclaimed chefs, food writers, brewers, bakers, and restaurateurs, while also recording live in-studio sets from genre-spanning indie bands and musicians.
In addition to the podcast, they wrote a book about music’s influence on the culinary world (Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music, Phaidon, 2020). And inspired by the book, they collaborated on a sustainable t-shirt series with EVERYBODY.WORLD, raising money for various Chef charities around the world.
