Little could Joseph “Beausoleil” Broussard have imagined in 1765 when he established a settlement of 200 exiled Acadians on the banks of Bayou Teche in South Louisiana, that some 258 years later that settlement would be celebrated and honored.

But that is exactly what happened on April 27, 2023 on the Teche Ridge in the Village of Loreauville.

On this date proud descendants of those Acadian exiles, along with clergy, local, state, and Canadian officials, were on hand to unveil and dedicate the 18th Acadian Odyssey Monument.

The monument, being only one of two in Louisiana, and 17 worldwide is dedicated to the perseverance of a people, who being loyal to their French ancestry, were forced by the British to leave their settlement and the lives they had created in Acadie, now New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Known as the Grand Derangement, nearly 10,000 men, women and children were forced to leave their homes, land, and possessions. Piled onto overcrowded ships with little food or water and rampant diseases, over half of the Acadian nation lost their lives.

After first sailing to Haiti, Joseph “Beausoleil” Broussard’s group of Acadian exiles continued their arduous voyage to Louisiana, and were given land in the Attakapas region by the Spanish government.

Along the fertile lands of South Louisiana, these early Acadians began to rebuild their lives through farming, raising livestock and fishing. The waterways yielded shrimp, crabs, oysters, and fish, while the fertile soil produced beans, tomatoes, yams, seasonal fruit and berries.

Wild game was abundant and in the winter months livestock was slaughtered for fresh meat.

Carrying on the culinary traditions of their French heritage, and influenced by Spanish and West African cooking, the cuisine evolved into our present day, much sought-after Cajun cuisine.

A more recent cultural exchange of recipes happened through a phone conversation between a Canadian chef and a French pastry chef in Lafayette in preparation for the unveiling of the Acadian Odyssey Monument in April.

Shared directions for making Pets de Soeur, a traditional French Canadian cinnamon pastry consisting of strips of rolled up pie dough layered with butter and brown sugar, became sweet rolls which added to the festivities of the day.

While I’ll leave it to the reader to look up the less-than-appetizing translation of the name, this Canadian dessert was first served by nuns at boarding schools and is now often served during Christmas holidays in Canada.

The enduring heritage of the Acadian culture, as evidenced by the Canadian and South Louisiana participants at the unveiling of the memorial on the banks of Bayou Teche in Loreauville, gives witness to the undying spirit of those first exiles which lives on today in the hearts of those who proudly call Acadiana home.