DESTINATIONS THE US | LOUISIANA
5
OF THE BEST
Must-try foods Shrimp gumbo
Gumbo is a rich roux-based
stew with West African roots. Cajun-style gumbo has a
darker, richer roux, while the Creole version can contain okra and tomatoes.
Turtle soup is a Creole delicacy with tender cubes
of common snapping turtles in a velvety and sweet yet tangy broth.
Jambalaya uses the holy trinity – green bell peppers,
celery and onions – as a base to create this Cajun and Creole dish. For the latter, this meaty one-pot meal often includes tomatoes and shellfish.
Crawfish étouffée is made with juicy crawfish tails
drowning in a herby, buttery
gravy served on a bed of rice. Beignets are square,
sugar-dusted doughnuts with a slightly chewy outer layer and a steaming-hot fluffy centre.
Fresh beignets
and community. Mardi Gras may be fleeting but the vibrance and expression of generational values, identity and pride can be found in food, music and art, no matter what the season.
SHREVEPORT: SPICE AND SOUL Weaving around the stalls of the Red River Revel festival, there are misty morning shots of egrets paddling in the Bayou for sale, along with handmade homewares and crispy fried boudin balls made of spiced sausage meat. It’s a nine-day non-profit festival that has been showcasing the creativity of downtown Shreveport since 1976. Beyond the main attractions – which include
Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, where Elvis rose to fame, and the buzzing East Bank district – independent businesses in Shreveport and neighbouring Bossier City are thriving. Growing around Orlandeaux’s Café – one of the oldest African American family-owned restaurants still operating in the US – is a blossoming community of up-and-coming chefs and nearly 80 Black-owned restaurants. Many are family-run and use simple ingredients to create hearty Creole and West African- inspired dishes with a twist, infusing classic flavours with contemporary flair and Texan barbecue influences. Initially, Creole was the name for people and culture native to Louisiana, largely of Spanish, Portuguese or African descent. One-pot cooking for dishes such as
44 6 FEBRUARY 2025
33Growing around Orlandeaux’s Café is a blossoming community of up-and-coming chefs and nearly 80 Black-owned restaurants
jambalaya is taken straight from West African cooking traditions, while beans, spices and wheat were brought to the US during Spanish colonisation.
LAFAYETTE: CAJUN COUNTRY “I was getting real excited about the soul food, I hadn’t tried it before,” says chef Jay Steiner during a cooking demonstration at Lafayette’s living history museum, Vermilionville. “Then they bring us fried pork chops, smoked greens, black-eyed peas and cornbread. It was the same food that my mom cooked for me and that she learned [to cook] from her mother in Louisiana.” As Jay rustles up a Cajun jambalaya and corn maque
choux (a sweetcorn and pepper dish), he tells us the core of Creole and Cajun cooking is the ‘holy trinity’ of green bell peppers, celery and onions. It was the Acadians’ adaptation of French staple mirepoix (diced onions, carrots and celery), but using resources more easily available in their new surroundings. Next is a guided tour of Vermilionville to learn more
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Chef Jay Steiner leads a Vermilionville cooking demonstration; Commander’s Palace; Atchafalaya Basin airboat tour; food truck at Rhythms on the River in Lafayette
PICTURES: Monica Meade; Commander’s Palace; Explore Louisiana/Cameron Gott; Lafayette Travel/Denny Culbert
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travelweekly.co.uk
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