I have always been extremely interested in not only food but
in the preparation of food wherever I have lived. I have spent
many hours in the kitchens of my friends and family. I have
also spent much time in figuring out the ingredients to a
particularly delicious dish when I ate in restaurants. When I
like the food, I ask for the recipe. I consider it a compliment
when people ask me for my recipes, and I have always handed them
over - No, I have never left out an essential ingredient to
prevent the "competition" from reproducing my recipes.
That brings me to the southern part of the United States
where I lived twice. The first time I lived there was in the
50's when my family left Europe for the great adventures of
America. We landed, of all places, in Texas. My mother was
most unhappy, and so my father invested all of his money, that
is US$ 250.00 in a 1950 Chevrolet and four new tires. We all
piled in, four children into the back seat, our parent in the
front. Our dad hitched up a trailer with the washing machine
and few other essentials, and off we went across the United
States ca. 10,000 miles to a greener part of America called
Oregon. We had the washing machine on the trailer, because my
mother found it absolutely inconceivable to live anywhere if she
could not wash our clothes. We might be poor, but we sure were
going to be clean! Unfortunately, the washing machine rolled
off the trailer, and we had to leave it in the ditch along the
way. My poor mother resorted to washing by hand, but we
certainly were always clean.
So, when I got married to a European and told my father we
were moving to back to the South, he was absolutely appalled.
But I looked at it as the beginning of many adventures and
opportunities to learning about culture, language and life.
Yes, in the South, there prevails a different mode of speech
called the southern drawl, culture which is a slower, easy style
of living and in general a wonderfully different cousin. The
language was English, so I managed that after a short period of
adjustment, the culture created no great obstacles, but I
learned much about food.
Outdoor cooking is very much a part of the southern life
style. Everyone participates in the preparation, the cooking
and eating the food, thus making it a wonderful event. There is
a mild blend of cousine in the South of cookouts or barbecues,
and Cajun and/or Creole food. When we say that America is a
melting pot of cultures, we can also say that America is a
melting pot of cousines.
Southern cooking encompasses many forms of food preparation.
Two very interesting forms of food preparation are Cajun and
Creole. Cajun cooking comes from a small group of people in
Louisiana, U. S. A. The people came from Nova Scotia, Canada in
1755 and eventually ended up in Louisiana. Their first
settlement was called Acadia. The expression "cajun"
originates from the colony Arcadia which eventually changed to
Cajun.
In Louisiana these people met other people whose origins were
French, Mexican, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. The Cajun
people settled in the swamplands of Louisiana where no one else
wanted to settle, because farming was complicated if not
impossible. The Cajun people lived in isolation for many years,
thereby preserving the culture which they had brought with them.
They continued to speak French, a prevalent language among the
Cajun people today.
In contrast to Cajun food, Creole food finds its origins from
the aristocratic plantation owners most of whom also came from
France. Cajun food originated from the French working class.
Both Cajun and Creole food includes the food cultures of the
Spanish and African herbs and spices which the people were able
to cultivate along the Mississippi River.
The people were able to catch shrimp, oysters, crab and fish
in the swamplands and in the Mexican Gulf. They were also able
to sustain their diets by catching birds and in small gardens
where they could easily grow sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes,
squash, aubergines and okra. To these fresh produce, the people
added their herbs and spices. The Cajun and Creole people
take great pleasure and pride in stimulating the palate and
challenging the taste buds to give the consumer an unforgettable
experience in taste.
Try our Southern cooking recipe here.