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Creole food is not Cajun Food or Soul Food. It is a traditional New Orleanean style of cooking that capitalizes on the blending of the recipes from the French, Spanish, African and American Indian cultures. The food is traditionally mild in flavor and elaborate to prepare. The result is an Epicurean's delight for the connoisseur of Gourmet and distinguished cuisine. Creole Food is typically misconstrued for Cajun fair since they both hailed from New Orleans. However, the Creole and Cajuns resided in two distinct parts of New Orleans. The Creoles typically remained within the city limits while Cajuns took up residence on the borders of New Orleans and further out in territory known as bayou country. Even though the city of New Orleans has a few bayous, Bayou Country has a lot of swamp land and bodies of water which are inhabited with reptiles before entering into Lake Pontchartrian or the Mississippi River. |
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Creoles and Cajuns are both of French descent and settlers to Louisiana. However, Creoles may also be of Spanish descent. The word Creole is derived from the Spanish word "criollo" which means settler. The original Creoles were the descendants of the French and Spanish settlers of New Orleans. Today, Creole refers to those descendants of the original Creoles.
Nowadays, many cosmopolitan people indigenous to New Orleans consider themselves as Creoles. However, you must be a descendant of Acadia, better known as Nova Scotia, to be considered Cajun.
The Cajuns were exiled from Nova Scotia, Canada by the British and settled in the bayou country of Louisiana. The word Cajun is a derivative of the word "Acadian." The Cajuns migrated to the swampland of Louisiana and established a self-imposed exile. The boundaries between city and country became the unwritten laws of demarcation and separation between Creoles and Cajuns. The Cajuns were fishermen, trappers, and hunters while the Creole were the city dwellers.
Both Creoles and Cajuns are known for their cuisine and have battled for centuries over authorship of most notable dishes as File' Gumbo, Crayfish (pronounced Crawfish), Etoufee' and Jumbalaya. When it comes to food, Cajuns generally like their foods hot, spicy, and/or blackened whereas Creoles pride themselves for their sauces, herbs and Creole spices. Cajuns specialize in the preparation of game meats such as alligator, possum, turtle and the like. Creoles have been known to dally in the game meats too, especially turtle... as in turtle soup,
however, they don't advertise this fact.
Recently, the two distinct worlds have been overlapping, and traditions like zydeco music and jazz have become an esteemed part of the New Orleans' heritage rather than as a Cajun or Creole custom. One thing's for sure, both Cajuns and Creoles believe in letting the good times roll. Or, as a New Orleanean might say,
"Lassez les bon temps rouler."
"Let the good times roll."
E.W.'s Creole Food Store |
