Talk:Cajun cuisine

Filipino contribution to Cajun dishes

Can anyone confirm if this is purely Acadian? I heard that the Cajun cuisine especially the shrimps and rice elements came from Filipinos who settled in Louisiana at the height of Manila-Acapulco Galleon (1565-1818). Not a lot knows about this though.

The most trustworthy description of the community appeared in the WPA guide to Louisiana:

The dozen or so red-roofed, green-painted buildings that make up the village are built upon stilts at the edge of the bayou, constituting what is called "the platform." The sustaining industry is the catching and sun-drying of shrimp. The freshly caught shrimp are first boiled in huge rectangular pots, then dumped on open platforms to dry in the sun...The platforms are built in a series of slopes with valleys between to drain away the water in rainy weather. rakes until completely dried; at night and during rains they are protected by tapaulins. When dried sufficiently the shrimp are thrown into revolving hoppers which drip shells, heads, tails, and broken bits onto the floor. This residue, called "shrimp-bran," is sold as fertilizer and hog feed. the finished product is packed in barrels averaging 225 pounds in weight and sent to New Orleans for distribution; a large proportion is exported to China. The population of Manila Village fluctuates considerably, averaging 250 at the height of the season--usually between early August and November--but dropping to a mere handful in winter, when the shrimpers, becoming trappers, leave for the muskrat trapping grounds. The town is known throughout the district as Manila Village, but a sign on the post office bears the name Cabinash. Most of the inhabitants are Filipinos, but there is a sprinkling of Mexicans, Spaniards, and Chinese. (Hansen 1971:569-570).

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.71.48.151 (talk) 19:24, 22 September 2016 (UTC) 

Authentic Cajun Food

From the article:

Sometimes the label is applied to any abomination involving inferior meat coated with stale cayenne pepper

This is clearly not NPOV, unless the point trying to be made is that chefs who use inferior meat and stale peppers call their dishes "Cajun" because of it, in which case it is not factual. Unless someone can justify this, I will come back in a few days and change it. CyborgTosser 06:36, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

Ok, I fixed it. I'm sure there is some room in the article for sentiment of distaste for unauthentic Cajun food, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about this to present it in a factual manner. CyborgTosser 00:05, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

A job well done. A very nice link from the "Cajun" entry. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM cajun style chicken

I would like to point out the comment about gumbo almost always being served with potato salad. As a cajun of 28 years, I have never once had potato salad with my gumbo. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Enfiniti (talk • contribs) 15:49, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure how one can be a cajun 'of 28 years' unless you are 28 years old, and if so, then I'm not sure what your age (and relative youth) has to do with much of anything. That said, I have almost exclusively had gumbo served with potato salad either in the gumbo or on the side. That has more to do with my personal taste than anything, but the fact remains that it is quite commonly available. I'm not sure why the article calls this a 'new' development, either. I suspect it's been done since the Germans came to Louisiana - quite some time ago! --Geofferic (talk) 00:54, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

I have moved Beignets to the non-cajun food section. No evidence is given that it is a cajun food and the Beignet article does not mention the word cajun. Outside of New Orleans, Beignets are quite rare in my experience - YMMV! --Geofferic (talk) 00:54, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

negative, non NPOV comments ...

There a few things in here, the part about what "is not cajun" that I feel is unneccessary. I hate "spicy cajun mcchicken" as much as anyone, but do we really need that here?

--Agreed. The tone of this article is distinctively prescriptive, not descriptive--asserting what is "true cajun cuisine" based on, seemingly, little more than one editor's notions. If National Geographic calls Tabasco Sacue a part of cajun cuisine, well, that is one more source than the dominant voice in this article seems inclined to offer.

The article contains far too many unverified opinions. There are no citations on what is and what "isn't cajun." The entire section on "what isn't cajun" can easily be removed and all references to it can also be deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.69.6 (talk) 06:09, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

What is 'not' cajun food and yet is commonly believed to be cajun food is a valuable addition to this article - if only to prevent future editors from adding those items to the cajun food section. --Geofferic (talk) 00:55, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

The people that come to this page are, I'm guessing, food savvy and not looking for a sixth-grade report on regional fare. Someone who wants to know about Cajun, Creole, or fusion, needs to know what is not right as well as what is. The "Cajun" craze a couple of decades ago has left a lasting impression among unsophisticated Americans that literally anything can be blackened, or spiced up hellishly-hot, and that one has then had a taste of Louisiana. Moreover, TV chefs in the business of selling cookbooks, not so much in presenting authentic cooking arts, have greatly injured fine, old Southern cooking in general, and Cajun in the extreme. Granted, the text needs to be properly sourced, but I for one want to see the negative, "not real Cajun" aspect covered. We include PRO and CON sections in many articles, thus we enhance a balanced POV. John Sinclair (talk) 03:04, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

I came here to find out more about real cajun food. Instead I got list of food used by just about everyone in any type of cooking, a list of the way food is prepared but none of it seem to be specificly cajun or all that in depth. Also I dont seem to be able to verify any of this article aginst other sources, Who says that Bannana Fosters is not cajun I have seen places were it is listed, or that it dosent use wine in cooking? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.72.138.170 (talk) 00:14, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Indeed, this article reads much like the shrimp monologue from Forrest Gump. --86.86.234.244 (talk) 17:30, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

This entry is terrible. All the attitude and derision might be legit (although I don't know that anyone would think Bananas Foster is a "cajun" dish), but it doesn't belong here. Someone with Cajun bona fides should come in here and clean this garbage up.Thebookpolice (talk) 03:29, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Some of the historical background is wrong, and I'm clearing it up. For instance, the Cajuns didn't come from Quebec, but from Acadia in modern day New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Pololola (talk) 02:38, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Merge

Cajun cuisine and Louisiana Creole cuisine are now so similar that there is tremendous overlap, suggesting they have in fact fused into one. For that reason I think we should merge these two articles into one called Louisiana cuisine. Moby-Dick3000 (talk) 23:03, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Creole using means that it originates from inside the city of New Orleans, where Cajun is more of rural Louisiana. Nolasandwitch (talk) 02:02, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

Translation Issues

Calling Cajun cuisine "cuisine Acadienne" is really missleading. Acadian Cuisine - as in, the cuisine of the Acadians who were not deported (or who returned to the maritimes) is quite different from Cajun cuisine. I am going to research this before editing, but I thought I would comment here first. Observer31 (talk) 04:00, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

pronunciation

So, Gumbo des Herbes is pronounced "gumbo zab" in English? kwami (talk) 10:32, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Dubious info on shape of crawfish tails as indicator of live/dead prior to cooking

The information presented here (limp, straight tails = dead before cooking) is dubious and in fact contradicts the information presented in the article on crawfish / crayfish as food. Let's at least try to be internally consistent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Drlegendre (talk • contribs) 18:39, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

You make a good point. This isn't a fact, but it is a common held beleif here (South Louisiana, so I changed it to say that "This comes from the common belief that..." Netsirk1987 (talk) 16:13, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Shrimp gumbo photo

This looks nothing like shrimp gumbo. I believe it is actually shrimp etouffee. Shrimp gumbo should be a soup, hence you should not be able to see dry rice at the bottom of the bowl like you can here. Mmyers1976 (talk) 12:58, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Gumbo is traditionally served over rice. See the gumbo page.RaggTopp (talk) 23:34, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Sure, over rice. The broth covers the rice. The current picture is clearly not a soup and has no ingredients but shrimp in a sauce. It is not shrimp gumbo. It is shrimp etoufee. Colin McLarty (talk) 00:27, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

Gâteau de Sirop

There probably should be a separate page created (with a link back to this article) for a classic Cajun dessert, “Gâteau de Sirop,” or cane syrup cake. It is so popular in New Orleans and across Louisiana that many restaurants include it on their menus. There is a good recipe for this dessert on the NY Times website at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/dining/131crex.html?_r=0 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.178.205.226 (talk) 09:38, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Section "Cooking methods"

In what way does this section differ from a general list of methods to put heat to food? --91.10.55.135 (talk) 20:09, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

Cajun vs Rural Creole

@2602:306:bda4:5470:b549:ff0:1279:8ba7: Is there any reliable source that supports the fact that Cajun is actually a mislabeling of rural creole? —LucasThoms 05:34, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

@Lucas Thoms: No, there aren't any. This user is editing several articles that relate to Cajun culture. They are attempting to state that Cajun culture is not legitimate and is borrowed from Creole culture with no proof. CajunMarine (talk) 05:18, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

Agree with CajunMarine. 2 different cultures with different roots in the generations between France and Louisiana. Some cross influence, but distinct. -- Infrogmation (talk) 20:31, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

Boudin

Someone inserted that boudin is sometimes spelled boudain. Five pages of Google search resulted in "zero" hits to back the spelling, being that related to the subject "boudin". I did find some Cajun boudain restaurant in Texas. Because someone can't spell doesn't mean we should advertise for them. . Otr500 (talk) 01:29, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

A puzzling sentence

"This is also a great pre-Acadian dish, established by the native of Louisiana, the French Creoles."

"The native" of Louisiana? And wouldn't "the natives" be the Choctaw or similar? GeneCallahan (talk) 07:40, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

Conflicting information

Two paragraphs follow each other, one of which says the Acadians had no influence on gumbo, and the other of which says it originated with their arrival. 2600:8807:541C:7900:1C95:5770:A0EE:A2AC (talk) 13:25, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Black Foodways in the United States

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 January 2023 and 25 April 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Wikiguy2003 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Wikiguy2003 (talk) 22:49, 7 February 2023 (UTC)