Creole
 Louisiana Creole cuisine is a style of cooking originating in Louisiana
(centered on the Greater New Orleans area) that blends French, Spanish, and
American influences. It also bears hallmarks of Italian cuisine, as well as
Caribbean and African touches. It is vaguely similar to Cajun cuisine in
ingredients, but the important distinction is that Cajun cuisine arose from the
more rustic, provincial French cooking adapted by the Acadians to Louisiana
ingredients, and Creole cooking tends more toward classical European styles
adapted to local foodstuffs.
Popular Creole dishes include jambalaya, red beans and rice, crawfish bisque,
shrimp Creole, turtle soup, Oysters Rockefeller, pompano en papilliote, oysters
en brochette, bread pudding, begniets, etc.
Starting in the 1980s, Cajun influence became important, spurred by the
popular restaurant of Chef Paul Prudhomme. A national interest in Cajun cooking
developed, and many tourists came to New Orleans who expecting to find Cajun
food there (being unaware that the city was culturally and geographically
separate from Acadiana), so entrepreneurs opened or rebranded restaurants to
supply this demand. |
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