Chef Folse visits the Black Heritage Festival in Lake Charles and prepares smothered seven steaks and black eyed pea congre. Kathe Hambrick, the curator of the African-American History Museum at Tezcuco Plantation in Ascension Parish, is John's studio guest.

Chef Folse visits the Gumbo Festival in Bridge City and prepares chicken and andouille gumbo; shrimp, crab and okra gumbo; and potato salad and jalapeno corn bread. John's guest is the Reverend Monsignor J. Anthony Luminais, pastor of the Holy Guardian Angels Catholic Church, who helps the chef demonstrate the secret to preparing perfect rice.

Chef Folse travels to the Yambilee Festival in Opelousas and prepares Bayou Teche pork and yam sausage patties, and super moist and yummy yam cake. Cajun humorist Murray Conque joins to prepare a candied yam flan.

Chef Folse visits the Celtic Nations Heritage Festival. The menu includes baked corned beef, baked salmon with chive potato sauce and an Irish apple cake. The chef is immortalized in song when Celtic folkorist and musician Kaetiedawne Littlejohn plays "The John Folse Song."

Everything is hot and spicy when Chef Folse visits the Pepper Festival in St. Martinville. He prepares roasted red pepper and crab soup, and pepper-laced pork roast. Pepper grower, "Red" Ortego helps John prepare bacon/pepper finger sandwiches and they sample "armadillo eggs" -- stuffed jalapeno peppers.

Chef Folse visits the Los Isleños Festival in St. Bernard Parish, where he cooks caldo, a traditional soup, and Isleños paella. Isleños are the people who migrated from the Canary Islands. Isleño Deborah Carballo joins in the kitchen to prepare a mirliton pie and sample boiled pudding with creme Anglaise.

Chef Folse journeys to the Pecan Festival in Colfax and prepares trout Frangelico, meatloaf with pecan stuffing and fried chicken salad. His guest Patricia McDonald from Aunt Sally's Praline Company, helps John prepare carrot cake with a praline garnish.

Louisiana is one of the nation's largest producers of strawberries and loads of the luscious red fruit are consumed every year at the Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula. Today's menu includes pepper-seared lamb chops with strawberries. Nature photographer Julia Sims joins John to taste biscuits with strawberry butter and whip up some strawberry daiquiris.

Miss USA 1996, Ali Landry of Breaux Bridge, is Chef Folse's special guest as he takes a trip to the Crawfish Festival in her hometown. Ali helps John boil crawfish. The chef prepares crawfish etouffee and fried softshell crawfish.

Chef Folse takes a trip to the Poke Salot Festival in Oak Grove. Forager and wild plant expert Jane Dunn helps Folse prepare a poke salad dip to eat with vegetables and breadsticks, and they sample a lazy day cobbler. John also cooks lasagna and cornbread.

The music and the food are both hot as Chef Folse visits the Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette, a major showcase for international music acts. New Orleans singer Charmaine Neville helps John prepare stuffed hardshell crab. The menu includes smothered chicken in maque choux corn, and rabbit and oyster mushroom sauce piquante.

Chef Folse travels to Franklinton for the Washington Parish Free Fair. Cabbage patch soup and Mile Branch onion shortcake are the featured dishes. Judy Jenson, a volunteer at the Mile Branch Settlement, helps John prepare a scripture cake with ingredients from the various books of the Bible.

Roasted pig is the featured delicacy when Chef Folse journeys to the Cochon de Lait in Mansura. John also cooks a white bean and tasso soup. Hearthmaster and food historian Paul Kiene joins him to prepare hog's head cheese without the head.