Sea Gum? Bryan posted a message on the L’Anse Grise message board about la gomme de mer and I’ve been looking everywhere for references to this. It was mentioned on the La Tasse de Café but it wasn’t clear what la gomme de mer was. Roy on the L’Anse Grise board was told that it was “petroleum” that oozed out of the ocean floor. It floated up and landed on the beach. People would then chew it for “health” reasons.
It sounds strange to me and both Mom and Dad laughed because they said it was such a common thing for them both. Mere Mere Odette and Pere Pere Wil would go crabbing at Holly Beach every year and bring some back to L’Anse Grise. Dad said the store owners in Holly beach would collect the gum and then sell it. Many people from L’Anse Grise, Ville Platte, etc would chew this “very salty gum” from the sea. Dad said that it seems to have disappeared with all the drilling in the Gulf.
We went often to Holly Beach when we were kids but I never had any of this gum. It must have started to disappear around that time. I’m still looking via the net and elsewhere for something written about this "strange" sea gum.
http://b2.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?&user=lansegrise
http://oldies925.com/la%20tasse.html