"New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin." -- Mark Twain, 1884

A little History about Cajun and Creole cuisine...

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

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.

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