Louisiana Fresh Shrimp
ABOUT US
Louisiana Fresh Shrimp is a family owned North Carolina business. Our product is shrimp and seafood from Louisiana.
Janice and I are residents of the City of New Orleans but spend quite a bit of time in beautiful Chatham County.
We love Pittsboro, Chatham County, and the beautiful state of North Carolina.
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When I was a boy ... I lived in the section of New Orleans known as Algiers Point. Algiers is the second oldest neighborhood in New Orleans and was once a separate town ... settled in 1719. In many ways Algiers reminds me of Pittsboro. Both places go back to the 1700's when this nation was being founded. Algiers has the Mississippi River on three sides which isolates us from the rest of New Orleans. We are a small town inside a larger city and retain the character of a small town.
When I was a boy ... when I would be sent to one of our neighborhood grocery stores, it was to a store where my family knew the owners by name.
There were three small groceries in Algiers Point. .... Lerille's', Cantanese's, and Trupiano's. All of these families lived in residences above their stores. I went to school with their children. They were all hard-working families. They took pride in the quality of the products they sold to their neighbors and always took time to talk to their customers.
We knew the family that made our favorite sausages and the family that had the best seafood. We knew which family sold our favorite pickled meat for the red beans, and which one had the best hog head cheese, with plently of greens in it. They all had wonderful vegetables from local farms. Their sons would ride large bicycles with big baskets and deliver the groceries to our house, through the back door, into the kitchen, placing the groceries on our kitchen table.
Our seafood shop was Johnny's Seafood where we could always get fresh seafood and especially the stuffed crabs and stuffed artichokes.
There is still a seafood business in Algiers at the same location where Johnny's Seafood once was. It has been there about a decade now. The new owner calls it John's Seafood not Johnny's Seafood.
All the other neighborhood stores are gone or the locations have been converted to convenience stores, selling what convenience stores sell.
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My wife and I still live in Algiers Point. On the same street that I grew up on. I am the 5th generation of my family here in New Orleans. The 6th and 7th generations also once lived in the city.
Like thousands of families in New Orleans we were affected by Katrina. Our children and grand children no longer live in New Orleans.
We now have 9 grandchildren. 3 were born after Hurricane Katrina. Katherine is a Katrina Baby born 9 months after Hurricane Katrina. Joshua is the oldest and he is 10 years old. We are blessed with a bunch of little ones. Each one so beautiful and so unique. 4 now live in Florida, 3 in Franklinton, La., 1 in Pittsboro and our first grandchild is in Heaven.
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I have made many trips to Chatham since September of 2005 to visit my daughter and grand-daughter, to see how they were doing. Each trip with my truck empty.
It eventually dawned on me that I could put some shrimp in my truck and bring them to Pittsboro to my daughter and some of her neighbors.
In June of 2008 Janice and I brought some shrimp to Pittsboro. Only 80 lbs. Janice was a nervous wreck. We had never bought more than 10 pounds of shrimp in our life. I think she was concerned for me. How I would be disappointed if we found that no one in Pittsboro wanted our shrimp... the shrimp were all gone in 35 minutes!
We now come to Pittsboro with shrimp and seafood from Louisiana
Our product is the wonderful seafood from Louisiana and we bring many Cajun and Creole Products unique to the culture of Louisiana.
When we drive into Pittsboro and circle the Court House ... after an 820 mile trip ... it's a great feeling. I am sure you know what I mean. We love Pittsboro.
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I take pride in the quality of the products we bring to Pittsboro. The shrimp and seafood we bring to Chatham ... I would not hesitate to offer to my own prescious grand-children.
The shrimp we bring to you were docked in the Village of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana or the Town of Venice, Louisiana and are harvested by families that have been in the shrimping business for generations. Shrimping is the life they love. It is the only life they know and the only place they want to be working is on the water. If you put them in an office they would die.
When I tell them that their shrimp are going to a little town in the Piedmont Mountains ... in the middle of North Carolina ... I see them smile from ear-to-ear with pride... knowing that their shrimp are appreciated so far away. These are the kind of people that if you met them for the first time ... in a short time you would probably find your legs under their kitchen table eating a bowl of Gumbo. They have very little but with the little they have they are generous.
The shrimp are iced down in coolers. 50 lbs of shrimp to a cooler. With the ice the coolers weigh 143 lbs. each. Anyone in the business will tell you that shrimp on ice is the best possible way to transport shrimp. Mechanical refrigeration dries the shrimp out.
Loaded on my truck. Delivered overnight to Pittsboro. That is our distribution system. Very simple.
Please be assured that when you buy our shrimp and other seafood and prepare meals for the people you love, you are giving to them the finest quality seafood in the world.
AL 11/14/2009
