Exxon Mobil hosted its 34th annual Jambalaya Cook-off Oct. 25. The event is the kick off for their annual United Way campaign.
More than 500 employees, contractors and other people attended the event. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Tasting 21 types of jambalaya is not for the faint of heart. I am speaking from the voice of experience.
ExxonMobil hosted its 34th annual Jambalaya Cook-off Oct. 25. The event is the kick off for their annual United Way campaign.
More than 500 employees, contractors and other people attended the event. They asked local folks to be judges, myself included. One of the other judges had a significant advantage on the rest of us when it comes to jambalaya smarts.
Wally Taillon, 79, is a lauded Louisiana jambalaya maker who has been making the dish for more than 40 years. "I've spilled more rice than the average person cooks," he told me. Wally Taillon, 79, is a lauded Louisiana jambalaya maker who has been making the dish for more than 40 years.
He is pictured here making jambalaya at the 2023 Jazz Festival. Taillon grew up in the Gonzales area near Burnside but has lived in Prairieville for more than 50 years. He won the Gonzales Jambalaya Festival the first year he entered it back in 1993.
The next year the festival invited all the previous champions to the participate in a Champion of Champions Jambalaya competition — and Taillon won that one too. Since then, he's racked up plenty of other jambalaya accolades. Eac.
