Essay on History Of Cajun Cuisine

Scattered along many of Louisiana’s rivers and bayous are majestic, historical homes built during a time of Southern prosperity. In the South, these homes and surrounding property often called plantations, were the product of middle to upper class slave-owning planters. Central Louisiana is home to a plantation that is “the oldest standing structure” in this area. During a recent visit to Kent House Plantation, I learned of the history, operations, and current events that help to keep the past alive.

Nous sommes Acadiens. (We are Acadians.) Some outsiders see us as a quaint, virtuous people, spending a great deal of time singing, dancing, praying, and visiting? (Conrad, 1978, p.14). Others see us as independent and unsophisticated. We see ourselves as fun-loving, carefree, happy, proud people who have a great love for our culture. The Acadians were French settlers of eastern Canada who were exiled from their land in the 1750?s. The Acadians are known to have settled in the southern bayou lands of Louisiana around that time. The Acadiana people acquired their nickname, ?Cajuns,? from those people who could not pronounce Acadians correctly. Due to the opinion that Cajuns were ?different?, they lived close together and became isolated

The Choctaw Indians were an important tribe, and the largest of the Muskogean tribes. The Choctaws have two stories about their origins in their traditional homeland in central Mississippi. One is that their ancestors came from west of the Mississippi River and settled in what is now the homeland. The other is that the tribe is descended from ancestors who were formed by a spirit from the damp earth of Nanih Waiyah, a large mound in northeastern Mississippi. Either way, the Choctaws resided in places, holding most of Southern Alabama and Mississippi with adjoining parts of Louisiana.

The Foods in the Cherokee Nation all had a purpose. Corn, beans, and squash were also known as “The 3 Sisters” that grew in their fields. Corn was made into flat breads, beans and squash were used for soups and stews. There are many traditional cherokee dishes, which include Bean Bread, Fried Hominy, Grape Dumplings, Cherokee bread pudding, and many others(Recipes). Most of the cooking vessels were made of clay, and food was sometimes put under hot coals for cooking. Most foods

Like the Oneida, the Cherokee men were the hunters and the women were the farmers. Although the women did most of the farming, the entire Cherokee community would come together to plant and harvest the big fields of corn, pumpkins, beans, gourds, and potatoes. The women would keep personal gardens outside their homes to have fast growing corn and other produce that they could quickly use to make a meal. The Cherokee were famous for the many dishes that they made with corn. They made breads, soups, used corn as a side dish, and used it in stew. Corn was a necessity in the Cherokee community.

Corn, beans, and squash, feed Native American tribes. Buffalo however, feed those who lived on the plains of Central United states. Meals would differ depending on where they lived. Each Native family had their own resources and would cook different foods. For example, The Powhatan Indians were primarily farmers planting fields that averaged one hundred acres in size. “The Native Americans used natural resources in every aspect of their lives.” (Wells 2). Natives lived near areas that had easy access to food source. Forests were gold mines for resources. Deer, bears, and other animals that were hunted for their meat and furs lived there, while the trees themselves helped produce chestnuts, walnuts, and acorns. “In a way, the environment acted as a huge supermarket, providing local tribes with everything they needed for survival,” exclaimed John Smith

The reason for these acts stemmed from ongoing wars between England and France. Most notably, the French and Indian War took place in North America from 1756 to 1763. Britain won and effectively pushed France out of North America. This war sparked a division between the colonists and England for several reasons.

British empire was in control of Canada, “a deep and complex transformation.” (Calloway, 112) British empire envision North America with field of action while the French spent the next two decade revenging on their loss with the Seven Years’ War and Treaty of Paris. Even though the French did not succeed in North America, eventually they migrated towards large swaths of Canada, The Great Lakes, and Mississippi Valley using their social systems and culture to survive. “The Interior French”, (Calloway, 123) were French-Canadian who lived beyond the Great Lakes country. They had formed an alliance within the Indians and having a good reputation with dealing goods. Louisiana went to Spain eventually, a few French migrated to Louisiana as a Peace of Paris. More settlers were French in Louisiana during the Spanish era instead of the French. Louisiana changes hand in Paris a couple times in 1763.

Louisiana is a place with a lot of history and some say the best food in the world. "Creole" is a word that refers to the French colonists who came to Louisiana in the 18th century. Creole food are from French foods because that's what the colonists would made for themselves. Since Louisiana is a hot and wet climate they had to change some of their cooking to use food sources they were available for them to use. Since settlers from other countries came to Louisiana their food also influenced Creole cooking.

Colonists from France came to Canada and settled in Acadia also known as present day east coast colonies during the seventeenth century. The name given to the French colonists from the time of arrival to Canada was the “Acadians”. The Acadians from France continued their formal lifestyle by farming, fishing and maintaining a close family oriented culture in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. The Acadians had created a prosperous agriculture economy up until the late eighteenth century, when there was a colonial struggle in power between the French and the British. British had conquered Port Royal and the Acadians refused to recognize British rule, wanting to keep their religious freedom and not wanting to

The gender and class relations would suffer just as they did in the planters' households. The yeoman settlements closely bordered those of the planters. These close proximities allowed for the interaction of these two very different social classes. The yeomen, in general, yearned to be a part of the planter's class. It was this undying hope that helped to pit this otherwise completely different class of people, with the wealthy plantation owners of the area. One of the many aspects of society that set these two classes apart was the ownership of slaves. This also set the scene for the influx of racial inequalities. The blacks in the area were overwhelmingly landless slaves. Even the yeomen, who greatly outnumbered the elite planters, suffered from inequalities.

E. In 1621, the British king, James I declared that Acadia belonged to Britain. He sent a Scottish lord, Sir William Alexander, and changed the name to Nova Scotia (New Scotland). The Scottish settlers arrived and built a new fort called Charles Fort near the ruins of Champlain's habitation.

Throughout the course of time, Acadians gradually began intermarrying with the other settles in the area. Hispanics, Old World and Canadian French, Native Americans, and enslaved Americans are all examples of such. This resulted in what became known as the French Creole culture. Cajuns are the descendants of the Acadians that were exiled by the British, and make up a large portion of southern Louisiana’s population. Several of the current residents of the Atchafalaya Basin area can trace their family all the way back to the Acadians. Their unique way of doing things, whether that be through the food, music, or traditions, greatly show their Cajun heritage.

“New France was not merely the settlement of a few fur traders.” The Acadians were “a pastoral-like people who once formed a proud nation in a land called Acadia.” Although falling under the jurisdiction of “New France,” the Acadians governed separately than the rest of the country and were an independent entity within New France. Today, “the Acadians are the French speaking population of the Canadian Maritime provinces,” and these are the Acadians that were not displaced during the expulsions, under British rule. Acadia’s beginnings, with the construction of Port Royal, could have marked the colony for success, but instead, led to a troubling conclusion for the European descendents. Through failed leadership, two

Most people who settled the Great Plains were ranchers. The western frontier was an idea place for grazing huge herds of cattle. Cowboys tended herds of cattle, branded them, and managed long cattle drives across the open prairies. In 1869 the building of the transcontinental railroad made it possible to ship the cattle market in large and profitable numbers (JRank Articles 2011). The experience of the