Bite Your Tongue | Creole Cuisine -Immigrants, most of French peasant ancestry, settled the "Acadian" region of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia from 1604 to 1654. By 1713 the total population of Acadians in the Bay of Fundy area was 2,000; by 1755, the population had grown to 15,000. These settlers subsisted on cereal crops such as wheat, barley and oats, and garden vegetables such as field peas, cabbage, and turnips. This diet was supplemented by domestic livestock, wild game, and fishing.
Because of increased tensions between the French settlers and the British, the Acadians were ultimately forced out of Nova Scotia. This was a long and grueling journey for those that survived it; many of the Acadians were sent first to Maryland, then to France, and finally to Louisiana where they attempted to reunite with their family members. The name "Acadian" was transformed to "Cajun" by the English-speaking inhabitants of Louisiana. The Cajuns grew to be a unified ethnic group as a result of their struggles to overcome discrimination as refugees; they also became increasingly wary of outsiders and resisted acculturation with Anglos in Louisiana.
Initally, all incoming Acadian immigrants arrived in New Orleans. They were met by a lukewarm Spanish government that was eager to relocate the settlers to more rural areas. This included the areas north of New Orleans on the Mississippi River, as well as the prairie region of Southwest Louisiana. The Acadians newly settled into the river region soon found difficulty in growing their familiar crops such as wheat, barley and oats. Additionally, turnips and cabbage did not do well in Louisiana's sweltering heat. Assistance from the Spanish government came in the form of corn seed. The prairie was ideally suited for cattle, and successful ranches were soon established in this region, providing New Orleans with much desired beef.
A dual class system emerged with the Acadian settlers, dividing Acadians into the small elite planter class and the working class farmers; a minor intermediate "middle" class existed as well. The elite planters soon adopted slavery, farming large tracts of land. They became successful in farming cotton by the early eighteenth century, which was replaced with sugar by the mid-eighteenth century and rice shortly thereafter. The planters identified with the "Creoles," a more wealthy and educated class than the emerging Cajun culture.
As farm land became more valued with the profits of cotton in the early part of the nineteenth century, the poorer Acadians in the river region were forced to sell their land and move into the less desirable unclaimed swamp area. Swamp life was difficult and isolated, but did provide the settlers with a generous variety of foodstuffs that added to the unique diet of Cajuns.
In both wetland and prairie Cajun homes, kitchens were simple and utilitarian. Kitchen cookware consisted simply of a cast iron kettle suspended over a hearth; a few families had a cast-iron frying pan. Subsistence farming and hunting produced such mainstay foods as corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, pumpkins, okra, and rice. Their diets were supplemented with wild game, domestic livestock (pork and beef), and home grown fruit (figs, oranges, plums, pecans, and grapes). Wheat flour was the only food staple that was not locally grown, and was purchased instead at the markets. Originally, Cajun meals were bland, and nearly all foods were boiled. The development of the roux gave more versatility to boiled dishes. Rice was used to stretch out meals to feed large families. While milk and wheat flour were considered "company foods", sugar and molasses were locally available, and used frequently; molasses topped cornbread at nearly every meal.
Social functions were vital to the culture, and parties, dances, and feasts were frequent and hearty. Coffee (usually black) was served generously, and gumbo was brought out to feed the guests at midnight. Other events such as communal harvest and butchering were also social gatherings with generous amounts of food and drink.
Cajun food is essentially the poor cousin to Creole. Today it tends to be spicier and more robust than Creole, utilizing regionally available resources and less of the foods gained through trade. Some popular Cajun dishes include pork based sausages such as andouille and boudin; various jambalayas and gumbos; coush-coush (a creamed corn dish) and etoufeé. The symbol of Cajun cooking is perhaps the crawfish, but,ironically, until 40 years ago crawfish were used mainly as bait; it took too much effort to remove the meat from the tiny crustacean.
The history of Creole cuisine can begin with the first European occupation of Louisiana in 1682 by the Frenchman La Salle. By 1722, New Orleans had become the capital of the region; French and other immigrants had settled in the area by this time. In 1762, the French government turned the Louisiana territory over to the Spanish, who welcomed immigrants with an open door policy. By the eighteenth century, trade was active and spices from the Carribbean were easily obtainable in the French Market. The Creole culture and cuisine (originally "Criolle," meaning "native born") emerged in this setting.
Creole cooking is based upon French stews and soups, and is influenced by Spanish, African, Native American, and other Anglo Southern groups. The Spanish brought into the cuisine the use of cooked onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and garlic. African chefs brought with them the skill of spices and introduced okra. Native foodstuffs, such as crawfish, shrimp, oysters, crabs,and pecans found their way into both Cajun and Creole cuisine. From the Choctaw Indians came the use of filé, a powdered herb from sassafras leaves, to thicken gumbo. One factor typically overlooked in the development of Creole-style cooking was that it was food prepared for affluent whites by their black slaves and servants. So often the emergence of a new dish was the result of creative chefs intermingling their cooking experience and heritage with the tastes of their employers. The Creoles differed from the Cajuns in another aspect: their insatiable sweet tooth. Such delicacies as pecan divinities and flan were enjoyed by Creoles frequently.
From Origins of Southern Food - http://uwf.edu/tprewitt/sofood/past.htm#cajun
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