Creole Cookin’: Origins and Modern Evolution
In the Garden District, chocolate ice cream and whole milk are whirled together in a 1950s turquoise blender by dapper men in crisp white aprons and black bowties serving milkshakes and burgers at the Camellia Grill. In Treme, 91-year-old Leah Chase is making Gumbo Z’Herbes at Dooky Chase for Holy Thursday. In uptown Carrollton, Cooter Brown’s staff are shucking hundreds of oysters under the glowing screens of a Saints football game. This is the look, smells, and taste of New Orleans –the most unique city in the United States.
– Lindsey Reynolds, Tasting Region: America’s Wholly Unique and Most Peculiar City
New Orleans is world famous for its colorful culture, easygoing attitude, and deliciously distinct food. But how did this city come to be so unique? Because its geography as a port city made it the perfect place for cultures to converge, New Orleans has been home to a burgeoning community of immigrants from all over the world since its very start. However, historian Andrew Hurley comments, “cultural blending in New Orleans was due more to geography than to any spirit of mutual respect and admiration. Confined to the limited high-water terrain wedged between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, the city’s disparate racial and ethnic populations had no choice but to interact” (Reynolds 65). By maintaining individual food cultures through separate neighborhoods, the various migrant populations functioned as interacting groups – eventually creating one overarching Creole food tradition in which ingredients, flavors, and techniques from each of New Orleans’s various cultures can harmonize together as one on a plate. Ultimately, the Creole cook’s open-minded embrace of the various cultural influences in New Orleans has paved the way for future evolution of the cuisine.
In my research, I’ve found that there is no true consensus about the definition of the word Creole amongst Louisianans. Generally, Creole cuisine is accepted to be cuisine invented or prepared by Creole people. But who counts as Creole? Before we answer that question, we first must dispel a common misconception about the word Creole: that it is interchangeable with Cajun. People outside of Louisiana tend to conflate Creole and Cajun food, as both are widely known as Louisiana fare. However, while it’s true that Cajun and Creole cultures have influenced and mixed with one another over time, the two cultures vary greatly in their origins, practices, and the ingredients used in their cooking.
Cajuns are the descendants of French-speaking Canadians who were exiled during the British conquest of Acadia. The word Cajun actually comes directly from the phrase used to describe these settlers – les Acadians (Ducote). After being forcibly removed from their homes, many of these French-Canadians were relocated to the muddy swamps of Louisiana. In fact, their takeover of these swamplands was so complete that the region has since been known as Acadiana. Cajuns took better advantage of the natural resources in Louisiana than Creoles, using every part of each animal they slaughtered (Ducote). Additionally, most dishes begin with the “Cajun holy trinity” of celery, onions, and bell peppers. While there is some overlap in Creole and Cajun ingredients, Cajun food does not define Cajun identity. In order to be considered Cajun, a person has to have ancestors who came to Louisiana after being exiled from Acadia (Reynolds 66). For this reason, Cajuns are considered an ethnic group.
Creoles, on the other hand, are much harder to define. Originally, the word Creole simply meant “born in Louisiana” (Creole History in New Orleans). During the French and Spanish rule of colonial Louisiana, Creoles were mostly the Louisiana-born children of settlers who themselves grew up in France or Spain, as well as some mixed-race children born of Native American intermarriage. However, when Americans started to move into New Orleans in the 1750s, the descendants of French and Spanish settlers in the city began to narrow their definition of Creole identity. They claimed the word as a way of distinguishing themselves from Americans, who moved to the uptown side of Canal Street. This American neighborhood came to be known as the American quarter, while Creoles lived in the opposing French Quarter. This was the beginning of Creole pride, and is why most definitions of Creole food cite its origin specifically as the city of New Orleans (Creole History in New Orleans). (Fun fact: The Canal Street median between the two neighborhoods was considered no-mans-land, and was called “neutral ground” – a term still used by New Orleanians today to describe any median.)
Although a few people argue that only the descendants of settlers who came during the French and Spanish periods are real Creoles, what we know today as New Orleans’s Creole food culture was just in its infancy at that point. In 1803, the United States bought Louisiana from Napoleon in the Louisiana purchase. In the mid 1800s, refugees from the French colony of Saint-Domingue came in droves – many bringing their African slaves. Additionally, newly-freed Haitians began to pour into Louisiana following the Haitian Revolution – and almost 90% of them settled in the city of New Orleans. This influx of Haitians doubled the size of the Big Easy, bringing its population to 63 percent black (Louisiana Creole People). In the late 1800s, as immigration from the aforementioned countries continued, immigrants also began to come to New Orleans from Germany, England, and Italy.
As people from all over the world settled and started contributing to the culture of the city, the word Creole took on a broader meaning (Creole History in New Orleans). In the late 1800s, “Creole” began to be used commonly to describe anyone born from intermarriage between any two ethnic or cultural groups in New Orleans (Creole History in New Orleans). Today, after 300 years of cultural mixing, the possible applications of the word Creole have become even broader. Some argue that only the descendants of original French and Spanish immigrants are Creole, while others argue that today only the descendants of free people of color are Creole. Some people say real Creoles practice voodoo, while other insist that Creoles are Roman Catholic (Louisiana Creole People). Despite the differences between these various modern definitions, they all have two things in common: the city of New Orleans and its delectable tradition of Creole cooking.
Creole cooking is unique in that it was not invented by any singular group – it was, as Creole Chef John Folse puts it, “a process of evolution and adaption.” As people from all corners of the globe converged in New Orleans, different cultural groups made efforts to maintain their food traditions while also making use of the land’s natural resources and learning new techniques and recipes from people of other cultures. As a result, dishes with uniquely diverse influences began to pop all over New Orleans, in rustic home kitchens and high-class city restaurants alike. Take gumbo, for example. Arguably the most well-known Creole dish, gumbo embodies both the separate, individual cultures of New Orleans and their fusion into one Creole identity through the harmony of ingredients with manifold origins. Reynolds explains, “With okra from West Africa, rice from the Lowcountry, andouille sausage from Cajuns, and file powder from Native Americans, gumbo, like New Orleans, is made better with influences from different cultures” (69). In the rule-defying spirit of the Big Easy, just like there’s no consensus on the right way to define Creole, there’s no consensus on the right way to cook gumbo. Every family thinks their method is the “right” way, and I can say from experience that Louisianans are quite fond of passing the time by arguing over whose recipe is best. Indigenous peoples traditionally make gumbo with squirrel, deer, or duck, while Germans load their gumbo up with fat sausages (Clausen). Families with Italian roots usually make their gumbo with tomatoes, while French families prefer without. However, with the endless possible cultural intersections of New Orleans, there are always exceptions. For example, my family is Creole Italian, but we never use tomatoes in our gumbo.
If gumbo is Creole cuisine’s claim to fame, how can it have no standard preparation? As a rule, Creole cuisine rejects agreed-upon preparation standards in favor improvisation, local variation, and individual flair. The Creole cook’s lack of rules in the kitchen and her freedom to draw inspiration from the plethora of intersecting cultures in New Orleans are actually what makes Creole food so special. Like New Orleans, Creole cuisine is as varied as it is united: a delicious contradiction that has created a unique space for continued evolution of the food culture of New Orleans. Lindsey Reynolds argues that New Orleans’s foodways are not only kept intact by native-born New Orleanians, but also by people who move there from other places. She writes, “New Orleans is… a welcoming city. Within months, transplants claim allegiance and never move” (68). Maida Owens argues the same, the Creole culture of New Orleans has “resulted in an environment where foods introduced by newly-arrived cultural groups are appreciated and readily accepted” (4). With the recent influx of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants, New Orleans’s sprawling food culture has begun to integrate Asian flavors. Owens writes, “Asian restaurants enjoy enthusiastic support and Asian chefs have begun to use such Louisiana fare as crawfish” (4). Vietnamese immigrants have brought back snacking while you shop – a Creole tradition – with their specialty markets, which have been flourishing all over the city (Clausen). Shoppers can munch on Vietnamese Po’ boys as they browse a selection of traditional Vietnamese foods. With this newfound easy access to yet another set of cultural staple ingredients, one has to wonder what Creole chefs will come up with next. In my opinion, there are no doubt still many new Creole creations to come, because that is the very nature of Creole cooking in New Orleans: innovative, experimental, and forever evolving.
Works Cited
Clausen, Emily. “Is that Creole? Seven Countries that Shaped Louisiana Food.” PeachDish, peachdish.com
“Creole History in New Orleans.” New Orleans Official Guide, neworleansonline.com
Ducote, Jay. “Cajun vs. Creole: What’s the Difference?” Huffpost, huffingtonpost.com
Folse, John. “The Seven Nations & Defining Creole.” Evolution of a R’evolution, 2010, revolutionnola.blogspot.com
“Louisiana Creole People.” Wikipedia, last edited September 21, 2018, Wikipedia.org
Owens, Maida. “Louisiana’s Food Traditions: An Insider’s Guide.” Folklife in Louisiana, 2000, louisianafolklife.org
Reynolds, Lindsey. “Tasting Region: American’s Wholly Unique and Most Peculiar City.” Southern Historian, vol. 36, 2015
Scholarly Works:
Hirsh, Arnold and Logsdon, Joseph. Creole New Orleans: Race and Americanization. LSU Press, 1992.
This book is a collection of six essays exploring the history of New Orleans and its composition of ethnicities. The influx of immigration from a variety of countries made New Orleans a cultural melting pot, resulting in the rise of its own unique Creole culture.
Palmer, Zella. “Belle New Orleans: The History of Creole Cusineres.” Journal of Pan African Studies, no. 6, 2018.
This paper focuses on the contribution of African American women to the development of Creole cuisine in Louisiana. Additionally, Palmer explores the exploitation of African American cooks in the south for American consumers.
Reynolds, Lindsey. “Tasting Region: American’s Wholly Unique and Most Peculiar City.” Southern Historian, vol. 36, 2015
In this paper, Lindsey argues that New Orleans qualifies as “a region unto itself.” With its mix of native born citizens and immigrants, its unique dialect, and (most importantly) its vibrant Creole cuisine, New Orleans is a city like no other.
Popular Works:
Bultman, Bethany Ewald. “A True and Delectable History of Creole Cooking.” American Heritage, www.americanheritage.com
Bultman describes New Orleans cuisine as a “gastronomic melting pot.” In this article, she dives into the history of Creole cooking and examines how this phenomenon arose out of a mix of cultures converging in one city.
Clausen, Emily. “Is that Creole? Seven Countries that Shaped Louisiana Food.” PeachDish, www.peachdish.com
Creole cuisine developed largely as a result of the mixing of a variety of cultures in one place. In this article, Emily Clausen lists a number of countries whose members immigrated to New Orleans in the past few hundred years and examines the influence each culture has had on Louisiana cooking, from techniques to ingredients.
Ducote, Jay. “Cajun vs. Creole: What’s the Difference?” Huffpost, www.huffingtonpost.com
Confused about the difference between Cajun and Creole cuisine? Look no farther than this article by Jay Ducote. He breaks down the differences between the two cultures, as well as the differences in the ingredients they use for cooking.
Cookbooks:
Barker, Alex. The Best of Cajun & Creole Cooking. New York, Gramercy Books, 2003.
This cookbook offers over 100 classic Creole and Cajun recipes like gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, muffuletta sandwiches, and more. Readers can enjoy color illustrations alongside the recipes as well.
Lisa. Creole Contessa. www.creolecontessa.com. Accessed 4 Sept. 2018.
The Creole Contessa is a blog of Creole recipes, straight from Lisa to you. From shrimp chowder to deep dish peach cobbler, there’s something for everyone – along with mouth-watering photographs.
Documentary:
Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table. Directed by Leslie Iwerks. Iwerks and Co., 2016.
This is a documentary about the life of Ella Brennan, the renowned New Orleans restauranteur. Her family’s restaurant, Commander’s Palace, is credited with revolutionizing Creole cuisine.