South Louisianans have enjoyed the unique taste and texture of Evangeline Maid bread for more than 100 years. Though a few things have changed over the past century, the brand holds a special place in the hearts of people from south Louisiana.
“I have people who leave our area quite often … and they call up—usually I get a phone call a week sometimes—and they say, ‘Where’s the closest spot for Evangeline Maid?’” says Farley Painter, general manager of Flowers Baking Company of Lafayette, a subsidiary of Flowers Foods, which acquired the business in 1976. Evangeline Maid can be found throughout the Acadiana region, from Lake Charles to Thibodaux and Bunkie down to Morgan City.
Joseph Huval opened the iconic Acadiana bakery in 1919 in Youngsville with a $50 bonus for serving in the US Army during World War I. He later relocated the bakery to a residence on Sampson Street in Lafayette before moving it to a larger facility at St. John and Simcoe Streets, where it is today. The name Evangeline Maid was adopted in 1937, inspired by the title character of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem. Joseph’s daughter, Mary Helen, was the model for the brand’s logo. The rotating Evangeline Maid sign, which has become a Lafayette landmark, was installed in 1960.
The company changed ownership a couple of times, first when it was purchased by Frem F. Boustany Sr., who bought a 50-percent share and became the company’s executive vice president and general manager. He and Joseph introduced the first resealable bread wrapper. The business was later sold to Flowers Foods, and today, the bakery covers 87,000 square feet and produces nearly 2 million pounds of bread products every week.
Farley says the Evangeline Maid recipe, which was based on a recipe from Joseph’s mother, is the same as it was 102 years ago. However, flour is not the same as it was 102 years ago, and the bakery makes sure to “marry up that recipe with the wheat crop that comes in” each year. The process of making Evangeline Maid bread is similar to how bread is made in home kitchens.
“We follow the same procedure as making it at home, just on a larger batch scale,” Farley says. “When I bring people to tour the bakery, it’s just like you’re walking into your grandmother’s kitchen when you were a little child and seeing her make biscuits or bread on the countertop. We follow the same principles of time and temperature and ensuring the flour is hydrated and creating a fermentation flavor.”
When Evangeline Maid celebrated its centennial in 2019, it marked the occasion with the unveiling of a commissioned mural by artist Dirk Guidry on the side of the bakery. The popularity of this local bakery is as fervent as ever in Acadiana, something Farley attributes to quality and consistency.
“The quality of the product that has been crafted out of the bakery has stayed consistent and provided a comfort food delivered to the pantries of people who have grown to enjoy, love the taste, the texture, and the feel of homemade bread,” he says.
