Growing up in the heart of Acadiana – the Cajun and Creole region of South Louisiana – I didn’t realize that my state was unique. I didn’t know that a lot of my vocabulary was French, and I had no idea that most Americans didn’t listen to Zydeco music or dance the jitterbug. If you’d told me that kids from other states didn’t put cayenne pepper on their eggs and had never hypnotized a crawfish, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.

If you didn’t already know, “Cajun” is an anglicized version of the word Acadiens. Les Acadiens were the French colonists who lived in Acadia, Canada in the 17^th century. These French colonists were exiled by the British in 1755 and emigrated to South Louisiana. That’s why the region their descendants inhabit is now called Acadiana.

Creoles have an entirely different history. For the most part, they never lived in Canada. Louisiana Creoles are (I’m simplifying here) the descendants of Old-World Europeans and French-speaking African slaves who settled in the New Orleans area before the Louisiana Purchase. They have their own language, their own cuisine, and their own music. Some of them were into voodoo, but these days…not so much.

When I went to USL (the University of South Louisiana, now called UL), my roommate – who was born in France – was working on her PhD in Francophone literature and documenting the Cajun-French dialect. Up until the 1920’s, most South Louisianians spoke only Cajun-French. My grandmother didn’t learn English until she was twenty-one. And my father told stories of the nuns in school rapping him on the knuckles with a wooden ruler every time he spoke French in class.

Being a Melançon with a Thibodeaux grandmother is something I’m very proud of. My kids don’t realize they’re Cajun because they were both born overseas. But I take them to South Louisiana every chance I get. They’re still in awe of 1000-year-old live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. And they love going to Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in my college town of Lafayette.

“There is one purpose to life and one only: to bear witness to and understand as much as possible of the complexity of the world – its beauty, its mysteries, its riddles.”

–          Anne Rice, Louisiana native and author of INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE

For World Geography Wednesday in Louisiana, we started with a few Cajun folktales as a warmup. Then we read Evangeline for Children.

Based off the poem Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, it tells the dramatic story of two lovers, Evangeline and Gabriel, who were separated during the exile of the Acadians. Years later, they were reunited under an oak tree along the Bayou Teche in my hometown of St. Martinville. Though, (spoiler alert!) it didn’t end well for Evangeline. This legendary oak tree is now a tourist attraction as it symbolizes the plight of the Cajuns.

Since everybody asks, let’s start with Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” in French. It’s the day before Ash Wednesday, when Catholics typically begin a 40-day period of self-restraint, fasting, and prayer called Lent. In other words, no drinking, no feasting, no wild partying. The idea behind Mardi Gras is to have as much fun as you can before Lent begins.

Situated on the Gulf of Mexico, and with so many waterways, basins, and bayous, it’s no wonder Louisiana has a thriving fishing industry. It’s one of the reasons that seafood plays such a huge role in Cajun cooking. Even swamp critters like frogs, turtles, and alligators have found their way onto our plates.

Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Frog legs taste like chicken if you fry them.

All this talk about fishing is making me hungry. It’s time to cook!

Knowing how to cook as many Cajun dishes as I do (see all my Cajun cookbooks above), I had a hard time curating what a “typical” Louisiana meal includes. Seafood is obvious, but we also cook wildlife and game, like deer, squirrel, rabbit, dove, turtle, and frog. (There are jokes about Cajuns cooking nutria rat, but don’t believe it!) I chose these menu items based mostly on what ingredients I’ve been able to buy outside of Louisiana.

Drinks and Nibbles

We started with Tabasco pepper jelly over cream cheese served with crackers. A simple but delicious snack I had growing up, and it’s not too spicy.

I also fried boudin balls to dip in the pepper jelly. Even here in Houston, I can always find boudin at the grocery store.

For drinks, I made Bloody Mary’s. They’re heavy, but they hold up well to rich Cajun food. The kids had iced tea with fresh mint and lemon, and they loved it.

Main Course

The main attraction was shrimp jambalaya (pronounced “jum-buh-LIE-uh”) and crawfish pie. These two dishes are so iconic, there’s even a Hank Williams song dedicated to them. The recipe for shrimp jambalaya is below, if you’re interested. I also made a video on how to make crawfish pie for my YouTube channel. It’s actually pretty easy…

The side dish was smothered green beans with tasso. Tasso is pork shoulder that’s been smoked, spiced, and cured and is a specialty of South Louisiana cuisine. I smothered the green beans, diced onion, and cubed tasso in a 1/2 stick of butter on low heat, covered, for about 45 minutes.

Dessert

For dessert, I made blackberry cobbler. Blackberry bushes grow wild in Louisiana. I remember having to wear a flannel shirt to protect my arms from thorns whenever we’d pick the ripe berries near our house. And we always had to look out for snakes in the bushes. Good times…

SHRIMP JAMBALAYA Recipe

TOOLS:

large, heavy-bottom soup pot with lid

large cooking spoon

large bowl

knife and cutting board

can opener

blender

measuring cups and spoons

PROCESS:

Pour a thin coat of oil or lard into a large, heavy-bottom soup pot and turn the heat to Med-Hi. Season the cubed chicken with poultry seasoning and brown it well on all sides. Scoop the chicken out into a bowl and add the shrimp to the pot. Add seafood seasoning and cook it just until it turns pink, stirring often. Scoop the shrimp out into the bowl and add the sausage. Brown it until some of the fat renders. Scoop out the sausage and add all the vegetables (except for the green onions) and season it with Tony’s. Add a little more oil if necessary and sauté them until they’re soft, about 10 minutes. Add about a ½ cup of water to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up all the brown bits.

In a blender, purée two cans of Rotel tomatoes, including the juice. Add the Rotel, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, all the meat, and the chicken broth and water to the pot. Stir it well and turn the heat to High. Once it boils, add the uncooked rice. (Fair warning: I needed a bigger pot at this point! You might need to use two pots.) Return it to the boil then reduce the heat to Low.

Cover it and let it cook for about 15 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed. Taste the rice – if it’s not tender enough, add a little more water and cook it for about 5 more minutes. Once it’s cooked, stir in the green onions. Check your seasonings (the ham hock, shrimp, and chicken broth are all salty, but it might need more salt) and adjust as needed. Serve with a few dashes of Tabasco sauce.

I hope you enjoyed this post on teaching kids about Louisiana! Check back here for more ideas on teaching geography to kids. Or check out my YouTube channel, World Geography Wednesday, for fun videos about delicious international recipes. Hope to see you next week!