Great American Culinary Adventure, Part II

     I've just returned from a week of culinary research.  It was my second First Annual Culinary Adventure for 2012 and this time I explored a place that has been termed an "inevitable city on an impossible site."  I was in New Orleans.

     It is impossible to appreciate the cuisine there without first understanding the history of the place that predates the United States.  Originally claimed for France, New Orleans was later ceded to Spain before being given back to Napoleon who turned around and sold it to Thomas Jefferson as a part of the immense Louisiana Purchase in 1803. And somewhere along the way the Germans, Italians, Irish, free people of color as well as French speaking Canadian exiles from Nova Scotia (called Acadians, or Cajuns) also arrived bringing with them their own contributions to the dinner table.  This, as you might imagine, created quite a clash of cultures and culinary perspectives.  Each group had a unique style that combined to make New Orleans different from any other place.  There was the muffaletta, jambalaya, and beignets all on the same menu.  The land and the water both provided ample ingredients to feed the population.  The rivers and lakes were teeming with oysters, crabs, crawfish and alligator, as well as duck and shrimp while the land yielded rice and prolific gardens for fruits and vegetables that could grow above the shallow ground.
      But not everyone who arrived assimilated without difficulty.  There arose a significant division between the Cajun French and the influx of new Americans called Creole.  They did not get along at all.  In fact, they could not even agree on the naming of the city streets.  In the Cajun French Quarter there is Decatur Street but on the other side of Canal Street which was the dividing line that same roadway is known as Magazine Street in the American Garden District.  And to this day the median on Canal Street is referred to as "the Neutral Ground."
     There is also a distinction between Cajun and Creole cooking.  Ask three different people to explain the difference and you'll likely get four different explanations.  But after a week of asking and tasting I think it can generally be described as a difference between city cooking and country cooking.  Cajun style is more the cuisine of the countryside - simply prepared often in one pot, straightforward, and spicy.  Creole style is more the cuisine of the city - more refined, elegant and Continental.  Blackened fish is one of the best known Cajun dishes, accidentally created by famous chef Paul Prudhomme.  Other foods considered to be in that same category are gumbo, crawfish etouffee, a thick spicy sauce made with the diminutive crustaceans, and andouille, a pork sausage heavily seasoned and smoked over pecan wood.  On the Creole menu are things like red beans and rice and shrimp creole, a tomato based mix of peeled shrimp and chopped onion and bell pepper. 

      So the debate continues on between what exactly is Cajun and Creole cooking.  Both are very good when prepared properly and both reflect the culinary history of The Crescent City.