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Food
Traditions by Maida
Owens Louisiana's complex blending
of cultures over 300 years produced distinctive regional food traditions
for which we are known worldwide. But we have other food traditions that
are not so well known. Each cultural group has retained food traditions,
and even within cultural groups, traditions vary from community to
community, and family to family. Food traditions are
particularly intriguing because they are some of the most persistent of
traditions. Generally, people resist changing their food patterns. As a
result, food often becomes closely tied to cultural identity and can
reveal cultural processes such as blending, diffusion, or
maintenance. Gumbo is an excellent
example of cultural blending, or creolization. This dish so closely
identified with South Louisiana, melds African, European, and Native
American cultures. The word itself is derived from the Bantu word for
okra, nkombo. The okra plant, a favorite in Africa, is a Middle
Eastern plant brought to America by Portuguese traders. Filé (ground
sassafras leaves) is Native American. The origin of gumbo--usually defined
as a soup-like dish featuring two or more meats or seafood and served with
rice--is often attributed to the French bouillabaisse, but the strong
preference for soups in Africa reinforced the tradition. Any gumbo researcher soon
discovers that there are many types and that there is no consensus about
what makes a good gumbo. If your family prefers an almost black roux, your
family probably has ties to the prairies west of the Atchafalaya Basin. If
your family prefers a lighter roux or you add tomatoes, you are more
likely to have ties to southeast Louisiana east of the
Atchafalaya. Although people in all parts
of South Louisiana make meat and sausage gumbo thicker with filé, seafood
gumbo thickened with okra is more common along the coast, where seafood is
more plentiful. If you make duck, venison, or squirrel gumbo, you most
likely have a hunter in the family. If you put a scoop of potato salad in
your gumbo before serving, you likely have some German influence. If you
make the much less common, meatless gumbo z'herbes for Lent, you
are likely Catholic and your family has been in Louisiana many
generations. You are less likely to find this in many of the Cajun and
Creole cookbooks so readily available now. And if your family wants to
extend the gumbo, you might add boiled eggs. No matter which type of
gumbo you make, though, you likely feel that the gumbo that you make is
the "right way" to make a gumbo. If eating and cooking gumbo are favorite
pastimes in Louisiana, arguing about what is a good gumbo comes in a close
third. And, if you didn't realize that gumbo was so complicated, you
likely are recent to Louisiana. Gumbo also illustrates
cultural diffusion, or the spreading of a cultural trait, because even
before the Cajun food craze, gumbo, hot sauce, and other south Louisiana
foods spread into North Louisiana and south Mississippi. The likelihood of
these foods being family traditions is proportionately related to the
distance from South Louisiana. In other words, people in North Louisiana,
east Texas, and south Mississippi are more likely to make gumbo than
people in north Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama. One factor is people
moving to South Louisiana and New Orleans for jobs, becoming accustomed to
the food, and bringing new food traditions back upon their return
home. Cultural maintenance can be
illustrated by food traditions in many cultural groups whether they
descend from the colonial settlement, were part of the later waves of
immigration, or recently arrived, especially in cultural groups that are
not part of the dominant cultural group in a region. Food reminds us of
home and family and becomes central to special occasions and rituals. As a
result, food traditions can be the most resistant to change. Examples abound throughout
Louisiana. The German enclave of Roberts Cove in Acadia Parish still makes
sauerkraut. Hungarians have been in Tangipahoa Parish for about 100 years
and take special pride in their Hungarian sausage. Filipinos celebrate
special occasions with the noodle dish pansit. Croatians in
Plaquemines Parish keep goats just so they can make goat milk cheese. The
Irish in New Orleans celebrate St. Patrick's Day by parading and throwing
to the crowd the ingredients of potato stew. Some of the most visible
markers of Creole French influence in Natchitoches are the foodways: meat
pies and Cane River cakes. West of Natchitoches in Los Adais in Sabine
Parish, one finds colonial Spanish influences, and again, the primary
evidence is in the foodways: tamales and salsa. One food tradition closely
tied to Italian-American ethnic identity is the St. Joseph altar with its
fig pastries, casseroles, cookies, cakes, and special breads in the form
of Catholic symbols. Native Americans have retained some foods that have
become symbolic to their identity, including fry bread and Indian tacos. A
few Coushatta (Koasati) continue to make hominy soup, which has almost
died out, as it is time-consuming and difficult, beginning with grinding
the hominy by hand using a mortar and pestle. The impact of Native
American foodways is still seen in food traditions of people descended
from the early settlers. Native Americans introduced Europeans and
Africans in both north and South Louisiana to corn bread, grits, sweet
potatoes, squash, beans, deer, turkey, fish, and such. Then, the newcomers
added foods that were most important to them. Europeans brought carrots,
turnips, beets, cabbage, and lettuce. Africans contributed okra, yams,
peanuts (although originally from South America), watermelon, collards,
hot peppers, and pepper sauce. Pork was central to the early settler's
diet, and remains important to many. Scholars divide the state
into three major cultural regions--New Orleans, South Louisiana, and North
Louisiana, each of which contains groups whose cultures remain distinct
from that of the larger region. Distinct food traditions have persisted in
each, but those in New Orleans and South Louisiana are
entwined. New Orleans is home to a
vast array of food traditions, but it is best known for Creole cooking. At
one time, it may have been possible to say that Creole cooking was the
fancier cooking of New Orleans with more European influences and Cajun
cooking the simpler food of the country folk, but this is no longer true.
Today, it is difficult to distinguish between Cajun and Creole cooking as
they are practiced in the home. Nowadays when applied to food, the terms
Cajun and Creole are frequently used interchangeably or
together. But Creole most often refers to the haute cuisine of New Orleans
restaurants that developed from the intensive blending of the city's
various food traditions, many of which originated with European-trained
chefs. For example, Jules Alciatore of Antoine's Restaurant introduced
baked fish en papillote (in paper) and oysters Rockefeller. The
experimentation continues with such dishes as seafood pasta introduced by
Ralph and Kacoo's Restaurant. To appreciate South
Louisiana foods fully, one must remember that Cajun and Creole cooking are
the products of 300 years of continuous sharing and borrowing among the
region's many cultural groups. For example, the French contributed sauces
(sauce piquante, étouffée, stews, bisque), sweets (pralines, a modified
French confection with pecans instead of the original walnuts), and breads
(French bread, beignets or square doughnuts with powdered sugar, and
corasse, fried bread dough eaten with cane syrup). The Spanish
added jambalaya (a spicy rice dish probably from the Spanish
paella). Africans contributed okra, barbecue, and deep-fat frying
and reinforced the Spanish preference for hot spices and soups. Germans,
who arrived in Louisiana before the Acadians, contributed sausages
(andouille and boudin) and "Creole" or brown mustard. Caribbean influence
is seen in the bean and rice dishes of red beans and rice and congri
(crowder peas and rice). Native Americans contributed filé and a fondness
for corn bread. Many of these foods are generally known, but far fewer are
aware of lesser-known food delicacies in Louisiana as the prairie Cajun
langue boureé (stuffed beef tongue) or chaudin
(sausage-stuffed pork stomach). One distinction about food
in New Orleans and South Louisiana is that food is regarded as far more
than mere sustenance. Food is relished, and the standard for merely
adequate cooking is much higher here than in other parts of the country.
Just as people argue over the right way to make a gumbo, they enjoy
talking about food, exchanging recipes, and collecting cookbooks. "What
did you eat last night?" is a frequent question. And everyone enjoys
experimenting with, preparing, and of course eating food. It is not surprising that
the average cook possesses highly skilled culinary standards. Because both
men and women take pride in their cooking -- and enjoy any opportunity to
show off their skills -- every gathering becomes a food event. Family food
events in particular become social functions. Through food, families
maintain a sense of generation and extension. Older family members pass
family lore to the younger ones, and individuals learn about their
cultural identity as well as about their nieces, cousins, and
aunts. This has resulted in an
environment where foods introduced by newly-arrived cultural groups are
appreciated and readily accepted. Most families of the region also enjoy
Italian pasta and stuffed artichokes. In New Orleans, every ethnic group
claims the muffuletta, a large sandwich with several meats, cheeses, and
olive salad. Other ethnic groups open
restaurants featuring new foods that are often highly spiced. The Chinese
and Vietnamese have added their food traditions to the regional's culinary
history--so much so that Asian restaurants enjoy enthusiastic support and
Asian chefs feature have begun to use such Louisiana fare as crawfish.
Kung Pao Crawfish is a standard feature of Chinese lunch buffets in Baton
Rouge. Most recently, restaurants featuring the strongly spiced Middle
Eastern dishes generally called Lebanese but often actually owned by
Palestinians, are well-supported. Japanese, Thai, and Latino restaurants
are also appearing and thriving. North Louisiana food
traditions are more closely related to those of the American South than
South Louisiana, but food is still central to family and community life.
North Louisiana food is less spicy but emphasizes different ingredients
and recipes due to different settlement patterns. English-speaking British
Americans and African Americans primarily settled North Louisiana which
includes the Florida Parishes north of Lake Pontchartrain (in the "toe of
the boot" as locals say) and parishes north of the French triangle. Even
though the Florida Parishes are closer physically to south Louisiana, they
share historic settlement patterns more with north Louisiana and
Mississippi. North Louisiana food
traditions include a vast array of jellies, jams, and preserves; vegetable
crops (especially corn, sweet potatoes, and greens); hogs; and some
cattle. North Louisiana families are fond of a wide range of vegetables,
but have a special affinity for beans and peas. Other than English (also
know as green or sweet) peas and string or pole beans, which are generally
eaten fresh, peas and beans may be picked fresh from the garden, frozen,
canned or dried. Beans varieties include white (or navy), pinto, butter,
lima, and white or speckled butter beans. Peas include various varieties
of cream, lady, speckled, black-eyed, crowder, cowpeas, or purple-hull.
Any of these may be "helped" with homemade relishes (such as green tomato
and red tomato relish), tomato sauce, chow-chow, and cucumber or peach
pickles. Corn in its many forms
remains a staple, and corn bread continues to be important even though
biscuits have become increasingly so in the last century. Corn bread may
be baked plain or with cracklins to make cracklin bread, fried with
flavorings for hushpuppies, or boiled to make hot water bread. Add eggs,
and it becomes egg bread. Green corn is also boiled or roasted fresh, or
creamed. Ripe corn can become hominy, and hominy can become
grits. Pork is still, by far, the
preferred meat and appears smoked, barbequed, in sausages, cracklings, and
vegetables, but many still savor wild game (venison, squirrel, raccoon,
rabbit, and quail) and fish (both farm-raised catfish and gamefish such as
crappie and bream). Any fish or meat may be fried. Sunday dinners at noon,
fish fries, and barbecues are common occasions. North Louisiana gatherings
that feature food include ritual traditions reflecting their Protestant
heritage. All-day singings and dinners on the grounds still take place
after church services in many rural communities, frequently on the fifth
Sunday in a month. Both black and white rural churches have gatherings
such as Homecoming, bringing together extended families. Memorial Day,
which commemorates all the deceased, not only military veterans, also
provides an opportunity for extended families to visit graveyards,
decorate graves with silk flowers, tell stories, and, of course,
eat. So, no matter where you are
in Louisiana, the food traditions of families and other cultural groups
reveal of information about the people. It might be settlement patterns,
historic connections, migrations patterns, ethnicity, religious or simply
family traditions. Research in food tradition is one more way to learn
about ourselves and our
neighbors. |
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