FERRIDAY, La. &045; Whiffs of crawfish, gumbo and jambalaya filled the air of Ferriday Junior High School gymnasium for the Louisiana and International Food Festival on Thursday.

&uot;Somebody ate a crawfish and left the paws,&uot; Malcolm Griggs, a seventh-grader, said.

Students of Ruth Gray’s Louisiana history class brought Cajun dishes and Juanita Green’s language arts class brought dishes from a country of their choice.

&uot;We decided to get together and do it all at one time,&uot; Gray said.

Green assigned her students to write an essay on a particular country and draw a picture of the country’s flag and map. One of Green’s students, Kenyatta Robinson, 12, chose Spain as the topic for her paper.

Robinson prepared dirty rice for the festival because she said it is one of the popular dishes prepared in Spain.

David Glasper, 14, chose the country Ghana and prepared sweet potatoes. And what did he learn about Ghana? &uot;They had made their boats out of pine trees so they could travel,&uot; Glasper said.

Parents like Vernesia Smith were also at the festival. She brought oranges were brought to represent Cuba and dirty rice for Louisiana. Local officials, including Police Chief Bobby Sheppard, showed up to partake of some crawfish, gumbo and strawberries.

The science club set up a table for students to test their food for acid and to see how it affects a person’s digestive system.