As Thanksgiving approaches, the University’s Biological Engineering Student Organization is providing the LSU community with festive ingredients to make the holiday a success.
BESO members provide sweet potatoes and rice at its annual sale, with profits helping to send biological engineering students to the
yearly Institute of Biological Engineering conference.
The sale takes place on the corner of South Stadium Drive and Highland Road from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and Nov. 25-27.
Customers gathered Monday around sacks of potatoes and rice, while sharing stories with BESO students about how sweet potatoes and popcorn rice are a part of family holiday meal traditions.
“My husband’s stepmother — who is no longer with us — was a gourmet cook, and she used to make these sweet potatoes for us, and they were amazing,” said Louisiana resident Lisa Supple. “She would bake them and make sweet potato casseroles, so I’m going to try and bake them like she did.”
Other customers couldn’t stop talking about the deals the organization offers.
“They’ve got pretty good sweet potatoes, and they are at reasonable prices,” said Pierre Rabalais, a University alumnus. “I’m originally from a sweet potato parish, so I’ve literally grown up around sweet potatoes, and I’m fixing a gumbo tonight and, you know, sweet potatoes go with gumbo.”
The sweet potatoes and aromatic popcorn rice sale has been steeped into LSU tradition since Dale Garber, a past BESO president, suggested the organization sell sweet potatoes from his family’s farm to raise money. The members loved the idea and the next day, Garber drove to his parent’s farm and returned to campus with a truckload of sweet potatoes. The sale was successful and has continued ever since.
The sweet potatoes and aromatic popcorn rice are still grown locally at Garber Farms in Iota, La.
“We have been doing the sale the exact same way since it started,” said BESO president and biological engineering junior Chris Sylvester.
There is also an old sweet potato sale tradition Sylvester said he wants to bring back.
“We used to have a sweet potato costume and would make freshmen wear it for the sale,” Sylvester said.
The sale takes place on the corner of South Stadium Drive and Highland Road Nov. 18 through Nov.22 and Nov. 25- 27 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Prices for the sweet potatoes are as follows:
5 pounds = $5
12 pounds = $10
25 pounds = $19
40 pounds = $28
Prices for the popcorn rice are as follows:
2 pounds = $5
5 pounds = $10
20 pounds = $25

Gallery • 2 Photos

Grace Steinhauser

The Biological Engineering Students Organization is having its 32nd annual sweet potato and rice sale Monday, Nov. 18, 2013, at the intersection of South Stadium Drive and Highland Road.