We’re excited to share that the Camellia Red Beans & Rice Trail was named an Editors’ Choice in Garden & Gun‘s October/November 2026 issue, featured in The Southern Agenda.

The trail is a project of Camellia Beans, the New Orleans brand that has been part of Louisiana kitchens since 1923. Toya Boudy, a New Orleans native, chef, and author of Cooking from Scratch, spent the summer traveling the state to hand-pick every stop. She wasn’t looking for the fanciest plates. She was looking for the real thing, wherever it’s served, from gas stations and diners to corner convenience stores.

Red beans and rice has been a Monday tradition in New Orleans for centuries. The leftover ham bone from Sunday dinner goes into a pot of beans that simmers all day while the laundry gets done. For Toya, a great bowl starts with creamy beans that still hold their shape and rice that stays fluffy and separate. She’ll forgive a looser pot, though, as long as “the flavors gotta be slamming!”

The trail starts at Beanlandia, the New Orleans home of a nonprofit krewe devoted to red beans. From there it winds through the city and heads west toward Baton Rouge, Thibodaux, and beyond. Twenty stops make up the inaugural lineup, and Toya plans to add eight to ten new ones every year.

So grab a map, bring your appetite, and taste your way across Louisiana one bowl at a time.

Read the full feature in the October/November 2026 issue of Garden & Gun.