If You Love Crawfish, Thank A Creole
This month's edition of Louisiana Life points out a fun little historical fact about our ever-popular regional culinary delight, the crawfish - that contrary to popular belief, Creoles started the mudbug tradition, not the Cajuns. (Like I've been saying).
In "The Versatile Crawfish," Stanley Dry writes that the crawfish has a long and storied history in French cuisine, and early French Creole settlers brought their taste for the crustacean with them to Louisiana. "Crawfish bisque, in particular, became a prominent feature of the Creole cuisine that evolved in New Orleans," Dry says. "But it was a harder sell for the Acadian (Cajun) refugees who settled in south Louisiana. They had no tradition of eating crawfish."
In fact, according to "Stir The Pot: The History Of Cajun Cuisine," by Marcelle Bienvenu, Carl Brasseaux and Ryan Brasseaux, crawfish did not play a role in the Cajun diet until the mid-20th century. That's the 1950s folks.
So the next time someday talks about eatin' crawfish as "Cajun," don't believe the hype. It's Creole.
Comments