Crawfish, Crawdads, Mud Bugs, Crayfish: DELICIOUS.

For you non-Southern Parents of out there, I am here to teach you about the best season of the year: CRAWFISH season!

While some of your faces might be puckering up, others (hopefully) are intrigued. If you haven’t already figured out, we LOVE food in the South. For this yankee, learning the art of actually peeling crawfish was one thing, but appreciating the delicious taste they offer was not hard at all. The photo above was taken years ago at a crawfish boil I attended during the Grove Bowl on campus. It's a delicious mess, totally worth it!

So why am I writing an article about these crazy mud bugs? Two reasons: 1. When your kid starts talking about going to Crawfish boils, you probably want to know what exactly that is. 2. Upon your next trip to Oxford this spring, you’ll be better versed and ready to see what the hype is all about.

Here’s the lowdown:

• A crawfish is like little a mini lobster - but much less fancy!

• Crawfish season usually starts in January, peaks in late April/Early May and dies off by mid to late June. Why some many variances?

The weird weather in the South plays a huge roll in these sweet crustations' breeding and growing cycle. So, the more mild winter, the earlier they come. The more erratic the weather, the unpredictableness of size will be. If we have a HOT spring, those little guys will be gone deep back into their mud baths to cool off. So, in an ideal world, we want a mild winter and a slow spring and summer that holds the crawfish off to maximize their availabilty and size.

• As the season progresses, the crawfish get bigger and bigger.

• It’s a real thing to “suck the head”. Which really means, getting all the spice out. (But you don’t have to!)

• A tail CAN be straight (some people say that means it was a bad crawfish, but a straight tail ca