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By Maida Owens
Irma Rodriguez of
Natchitoches prepare Mexican tamales at the 1997 Festival of
American Folklife. Photo: Maida Owens. |
This has resulted in an environment
where foods introduced by newly-arrived cultural groups are appreciated
and readily accepted. Most families of the region also enjoy
Italian pasta and stuffed artichokes. In New Orleans, every ethnic
group claims the muffuletta, a large sandwich with several meats,
cheeses, and olive salad.
Other ethnic groups open
restaurants featuring new foods that are often highly spiced.
The Chinese and Vietnamese have added their food traditions to
the regional's culinary history--so much so that Asian restaurants
enjoy enthusiastic support and Asian chefs feature have begun
to use such Louisiana fare as crawfish. Kung Pao Crawfish is
a standard feature of Chinese lunch buffets in Baton Rouge. Most
recently, restaurants featuring the strongly spiced Middle Eastern
dishes generally called Lebanese but often actually owned by
Palestinians, are well-supported. Japanese, Thai, and Latino
restaurants are also appearing and thriving.
North Louisiana food traditions
are more closely related to those of the American South than
South Louisiana, but food is still central to family and community
life. North Louisiana food is less spicy but emphasizes different
ingredients and recipes due to different settlement patterns.
English-speaking British Americans and African Americans primarily
settled North Louisiana which includes the Florida Parishes north
of Lake Pontchartrain (in the "toe of the boot" as
locals say) and parishes north of the French triangle. Even though the Florida Parishes are closer physically to south Louisiana, they share historic settlement patterns more with north Louisiana and Mississippi.
Sarah Albritton of
Ruston prepares dewberry jelly. Photo: Susan Roach. |
North Louisiana food traditions
include a vast array of jellies, jams, and preserves; vegetable
crops (especially corn, sweet potatoes, and greens); hogs; and
some cattle. North Louisiana families are fond of a wide range
of vegetables, but have a special affinity for beans and peas.
Other than English (also know as green or sweet) peas and string
or pole beans, which are generally eaten fresh, peas and beans
may be picked fresh from the garden, frozen, canned or dried.
Beans varieties include white (or navy), pinto, butter, lima,
and white or speckled butter beans. Peas include various varieties
of cream, lady, speckled, black-eyed, crowder, cowpeas, or purple-hull.
Any of these may be "helped" with homemade relishes
(such as green tomato and red tomato relish), tomato sauce, chow-chow,
and cucumber or peach pickles.
Corn in its many forms remains
a staple, and corn bread continues to be important even though
biscuits have become increasingly so in the last century. Corn
bread may be baked plain or with cracklins to make cracklin bread,
fried with flavorings for hushpuppies, or boiled to make hot
water bread. Add eggs, and it becomes egg bread. Green corn is
also boiled or roasted fresh, or creamed. Ripe corn can become
hominy, and hominy can become grits.
Boudin. Photo: Maida
Owens. |
Pork is still, by far, the
preferred meat and appears smoked, barbequed, in sausages, cracklings,
and vegetables, but many still savor wild game (venison, squirrel,
raccoon, rabbit, and quail) and fish (both farm-raised catfish
and gamefish such as crappie and bream). Any fish or meat may
be fried. Sunday dinners at noon, fish fries, and barbecues are
common occasions.
North Louisiana gatherings
that feature food include ritual traditions reflecting their
Protestant heritage. All-day singings and dinners on the grounds
still take place after church services in many rural communities,
frequently on the fifth Sunday in a month. Both black and white
rural churches have gatherings such as Homecoming, bringing together
extended families. Memorial Day, which commemorates all the deceased,
not only military veterans, also provides an opportunity for
extended families to visit graveyards, decorate graves with silk
flowers, tell stories, and, of course, eat.
So, no matter where you are
in Louisiana, the food traditions of families and other cultural
groups reveal of information about the people. It might be settlement
patterns, historic connections, migrations patterns, ethnicity,
religious or simply family traditions. Research in food tradition
is one more way to learn about ourselves and our neighbors.
Roadside vegetable vendor in
Alexandria.. Photo: Maida Owens.
Koasati Indian Marjorie Batisse
of Elton prepares Indian fry bread at the NSU/Natchitoches Folk
Festival. Photo: Maida Owens. |
Anna Hansen Stauder of New Orleans
prepares a traditional Norwegian dish, panekake, a blintz or
thin rolled pancake, at the Louisiana Folklife Festival. Photo:
Maida Owens. |
Snowball stand near Alexandria, Louisiana.
Photo: Maida Owens. |
This article draws upon
the research of many folklorists who have documented Louisiana
food traditions. Some of this research was previously published
by Owens in "Louisiana's Traditional Cultures: An Overview"
in Swapping Stories:
Folktales from Louisiana and "Cajun and Creole"
in Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook. A version of this article
first appeared in the magazine, Louisiana Cooking, in
January 2000 and is posted here with permission. |
