The flavor of Louisiana

You wake up at Narita International, ears still clogged. You yawn in a car, but your eyes, filled with novelty, are peeled. You lie down in a hotel room 7,000 miles from home. You flip through channels on the TV, blinking away hours of jet lag and a series of indecipherably aggressive clips for products unknown. Arnold Schwarzenegger comes on to sell energy drinks, then more ads in Japanese. Just as culture shock threatens to set in, you feel the boom-ducka-boom of a second line beat. You see the French Quarter. You hear grand promises of bounty in the Big Easy. You can almost smell Café du Monde. This TV spot is as much of Louisiana as most outsiders will get. To them, it is wholly exotic, like a bustling Tokyo street market must seem to Henry Turner Jr. Click here to find out how this musician’s “Louisiana Parties” have brought our state’s food and culture to the far reaches of the world.—Jeff Roedel