Sunday, October 2, 2016

Hey, Mr. Huck-a-buck man!


The second line parades for New Orleans' many Social and Pleasure Clubs are a perfect opportunity for neighborhood entrepreneurs to make a little extra cash. The parades are accompanied by food and refreshment vendors. Some are professional barbecue rigs, or like our friend Miss Linda the Yakamein Lady, well known by foodies who frequent celebrations. Others are pickup trucks transformed into bars, guys pulling wheeled coolers of beer and water, and neighborhood ladies selling Jello shots out of tupperware bins.

Today at the parade for the Family Ties Social and Pleasure Club, rolling down St. Bernard Avenue in the 7th Ward, this gentlemen was pulling his brightly colored and umbrella-shaded cart. I watched him for a while, and then I realized he was selling huckabucks.


Whatever you call them, huckabucks , also called hucklebucks, are one of the simplest childhood treats. Freeze a sweet drink like Kool-Ade in a dixie cup, then you can lick it till your tongue turns color.

In New Orleans these were frequently made by neighborhood ladies who would sell them to children on their way home from school. This fellow just took the old tradition up a notch.

People remember things like huckabucks. Here's a couple of dudes  revisiting their childhood antics - and providing a little critique of the recipe as well.





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