Festival Beat: Meat pies and Zwolle tamales

North Louisiana gets short shrift in the regional culinary wars—overshadowed as it is by the state’s ethnically diverse southern half. But you have to give the towns of Natchitoches and Zwolle credit for developing powerful identities around the meat pie and the tamale, respectively, two foods that landed here thanks to Spanish occupation west of Natchitoches.

Every fall, the two north Louisiana communities mark these signature dishes with thriving festivals complete with all the trimmings.

The 11th annual Natchitoches Meat Pie Festival takes place Sept. 20-21 on the banks of the Cane River Lake in historic downtown Natchitoches. While you’re there, sink your teeth into the crescent-shaped pastry filled with piping hot, savory ground beef and pork. Click here for more information.

A month later, the 38th annual Zwolle Tamale Fiesta gets underway Oct. 10-12. This is an expansive festival complete with a midway and a mudbog, which includes the town’s emblematic pork tamales, a smaller, spicy version of the ancient Mesoamerican dish. Here, it’s never sauced, and it’s always wrapped in a cornhusk, referred to by locals as a “shuck.” For more information, click here. — Maggie Heyn Richardson