First, a moment for the snoball…

“Since it was born in New Orleans in the 1930s, the snoball has become a summer mainstay in much of Louisiana. Snoball stands sprout like crabgrass when the weather gets warm, arriving in the form of mobile trailers, tumbledown attachments to buildings and frame structures with just enough square footage to accommodate an operator, an ice shaver, a freezer and an arrangement of syrups, toppings and cups.

They often announce themselves with a wordless wooden placard depicting the confection itself, a cartoony multi-colored mound protruding from a cone or tall cup.

Louisianans are quick to explain the difference between a snoball and its ubiquitous distant cousin, the snow cone, a ballpark concession known by rough ice pebbles drizzled in primary-colored syrups. An authentic snoball, on the other hand, is made with care. A good operator keeps his blades sharp and doesn’t pass a block of ice through his machine unless the ice is the right temperature—neither too hard nor too soft. Everyone looks forward to this summertime phenomenon. Adults are as likely as children to line up for a snoball in Louisiana, because the first one of the season is a tether to memory; it brings back the seasons that preceded it.”

A regular 225 contributor, Richardson is completing a book that explores eight of Louisiana’s emblematic foods, including the snoball. LSU Press will release her work next year.