The meeting place

By Dan McKain

On almost any morning, from 5:30 a.m. on, the small, family-owned C. S. Danna’s Bakery in St. Martinville is the town’s unofficial meeting place. The publisher, editors, reporters and photographers from the local media outlets; mothers, fathers, schoolteachers and students from the elementary school; and the doctor and his nurses from a local health provider are all likely to stop in. Friday is an especially busy time.

Local and parish-wide law enforcement agencies and the men and women of the town council often jump-start their day there. Donuts, iced sweet rolls, loaves of fresh-from-the-oven French breads in various lengths, and tray after tray of powdered beignets; the steaming hot fragrances are almost too much to bear!

In fact, for two youngsters, in with their father, the temptation was just too great: small hands were in and out of the neat white paper bag, rapidly retrieving a fresh-baked sweet piece of the staff of life. It gave new meaning to the phrases “take out” and “eat in.”

The father and son team of Carrol Sr. and Carrol Danna Jr. are now at the forefront of the fourth generation of bakers who, since 1922, have daily provided New Iberia and St. Martin Parish residents and visitors the highest quality of baked goods. Gone are the days, along with the milk bottle, of home bread delivery. An old photograph on the wall, however, gives silent testimony to that once daily practice.

Depending upon your point of view, the pleasure or the curse of the baker is that the bakery is usually the busiest place in town starting at about dawn. For the baker, however, that means that his or her day begins around three in the morning.

According to Carrol Danna Sr., when they were located down in New Iberia, they even started as early as 11 p.m. the night before. The first product to be made is the bread dough; the next is the doughnut dough and then the cookies. An interesting aspect of running a local bakery is that many of your regular customers already know what they want, how much it costs and what time it normally comes from the oven. You can set your watch by it.

Many schoolchildren and their mothers stop by on Friday for breakfast when on their way to school. There are several reasons for this. One is to insure a good nutritious breakfast, but another is education. In between the orange juice and fresh milk, Carrol Jr. often takes time from his hectic daily schedule and brings forth some raw dough and teaches the youngsters how to roll it out, when and how to form, and then cut it into the proper doughnut or cookie shapes. He then cooks the doughnuts and allows the children to sample what they just learned to make. Hands-on education?

Another product in high demand at C. S. Danna’s Bakery is euphemistically called the “shoe sole.” In other parts of Louisiana and the nation, it is sometimes referred to as elephant ears or other names. Even throughout other parts of Cajun Country, the formulations are not as tasteful as those made at Danna’s.

If you have never observed the pride and joy on the bright shining face of a school child having just sampled something edible that they have created, you owe it to yourself to experience it. Not all of life’s lessons are learned in the classroom.