Origin of the Shrimp Peel

In the matter of entertainment, honorary life member Howard Kiatta relishes telling about the time that professionals of the southwest Louisiana area, where he worked for Texaco for many years, would get together for seafood parties.
 These oil industry events became famous in southern Louisiana. They were known as the FSLG & ES, or Fine Southwest Louisiana Geologists and Epicurean Society. In 1959 it was re-formed and carried on in Houston's "sin alley" as an annual event. In 1964 the name was changed to the FSLG&CES, or Fine Southern Louisiana Geologists and Crawfish Eating Society. The group renamed itself in 1967, appropriately, to reflect the larger membership and wider geographic area now involved, the FSWG & ES, or Fine Southwest Geologists and Epicurean Society.
 With time members grew a bit tired of the routine nature of the event. With some creative and really big thinking they came up with their Big Pot Recipe. This made its debut on May 10, 1969, when the group returned to Louisiana, and in the city park of New Iberia treated somewhere between 700 (plus) and 3000 members and friends (both figures have since been reported, the latter perhaps in a moment of wild exaggeration) to 325 gallons of that special gourmet gumbo, which was cooked in a huge eighteenth century sugar kettle.
 On February 20, 1971, the group celebrated their gala Decennial at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Houston around the world's largest (and perhaps hottest) pot of gumbo. Quite an auspicious beginning for what has become the annual fall Shrimp Peel of the Houston Geological Society.