A Lesson in Cultural Geography: How the Spanish influenced Cajun cuisine.

When one imagines the state of Louisiana, in a cultural perspective, many people take note of the Cajun and Creole influences. This is no exception when it comes to the food. However, some people do not think of other influences in Louisiana's cuisine.

One particular dish of note is jambalaya. Rice, andouille, peppers, shrimp, onions, celery, tomatoes, chicken, and other ingredients make up this dish. It has alot of notoriety as a Cajun dish. However, jambalaya actually originated from Spaniards who settled in Louisiana. The cultural geographical part about this will be explained.

As mentioned before, Louisiana gets alot of notoriety for its French heritage. You can see it in the city's symbol, the fleur-de-lis. However, not as much attention is given to Louisiana's Spanish heritage. In fact, the first Europeans to land in what is now the state of Louisiana were Spaniards. An expedition lead by Panfilo de Narvaez went all the way to the mouth of the Mississippi river.  France did rule Louisiana for hundreds of years. However, between 1763 and 1800, Spain ruled Louisiana. Under Spanish rule, Spanish-speaking immigrants from the Canary Islands, also know as Islenos, were brought to Louisiana. St. Bernard, Ascension, and Assumption parishes. Later on, some settled around Plaquemines Parish.

When Spain ruled Louisiana.

Around 1800, Louisiana would be turned back over to France, and in the hands of Napoleon. However, Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory to the USA, also known as the Louisiana Purchase.

What does any of the this have to do with the food? Well, the Spanish brought along some of their own food to Louisiana. Look at jambalaya. Jambalaya is actually a derivative of the Spanish rice dish paella. Paella required the ingredient of saffron, Saffron, a spice derived from the Crocus sativa flower, was not available in Louisiana. Tomatoes were used in place of saffron as a result.

Cajuns did play a part in rice being a staple food in Louisiana. French-speaking Acadians were expelled by the British from the Maritime Provinces of eastern Canada during the 18th century. As many of them made their way south, some stopped in the Carolinas. Many who continued south into Louisiana brought rice with them from the Carolinas. However, the Spanish were cooking with rice long before. Many Spanish people mingled with the French, and in a way, contributed to Louisiana's cuisine. Jambalaya can be thought of as a Cajun dish, but with Spanish roots. It shows how cultural diffusion has worked to create something similar, but unique.



http://ccet.louisiana.edu/tourism/parishes/Greater_New_Orleans/plaquemines.html
http://www.latech.edu/tech/liberal-arts/geography/courses/310/text/11chapter(spanish).htm
http://www.usarice.com/doclib/188/219/3677.PDF
http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/espana_la.html
http://www.tinycooker.com/jambalaya/

The Original Gateway To Latin America.

Take this image into your head. There are bananas being brought in from Honduras, along with other various tropical fruits.  You can find people who are coming from places like Cuba, Honduras, and Haiti. French Creole and Spanish are languages that can be heard. The climate is quite warm and humid, much of the time with ample rainfall. Well, given this vivid description, you could say this is Miami, Florida, USA. And you would be right in saying this. This is indeed Miami, today. It is important to consider that this is not the city of subject. The city being spoken of is really New Orleans from years past.

Miami is the current gateway to Latin America today. However, New Orleans is the original gateway to Latin America. In fact, even before Miami was even thought of, New Orleans was a major point of transit to and from Latin America.

Geographically, this actually made perfect sense. New Orleans was founded at the southern end of the Mississippi river, just as the Mississippi river is beginning to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. While New Orleans is not technically on the Gulf of Mexico, its relative proximity to the Gulf of Mexico has provided an important role. New Orleans was founded by the French, but it was also ruled by the Spanish. This is a lesson in historical geography.  New Orleans under Spanish rule began to prosper. It was a major seat of power for the Spanish in North America, as was the city of Havana, in Cuba. Spanish galleons coming from Cuba would often go to New Orleans, bringing in people, and commerce.

One influence of the Spanish is that Louisiana would be the first place in the modern-day USA to have Asian settlements. The Philippines used to be a colony of Spain. While under Spanish rule, galleons would come from The Philippines, bringing with them Filipino servants. Sometimes they would jump overboard and settle in the swamps of what is now Plaquemines Parish. Because of this, the village of St. Malo was founded by Filipinos.

Even after Spanish rule ended, New Orleans would continue to have influences from the Caribbean and Latin America. After the Haitian Revolution, Napoleon gave up his colonial hold on North America, selling French-held lands to the USA in what is known as the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans was now under American control. At the same time, people from Haiti went to New Orleans, the nearest major port to Haiti. At the time, Miami didn’t even exist, so New Orleans was a major point of entry for many immigrants. New Orleans would also be the first major city to have a sizeable Honduran population. The American Fruit Company had land holdings in Honduras, mainly banana plantations. Honduran immigrants were brought to New Orleans by the American Fruit Company during the early 20th century.  To this day, the Greater New Orleans area has one of the largest Honduran communities in the USA. During Castro’s revolution in Cuba, many Cubans went to Miami. However, a sizeable number of Cubans went to New Orleans.

From the outside, New Orleans doesn’t seem like it would have ever been a gateway to Latin America. It doesn’t have the aesthetics that Miami has. No Art Deco buildings, mostly English being spoken in the streets, you hear jazz music and dirty South hip-hop, most of the buildings look like they date from the 18th and 19th century.  However, if you scratch the surface, and look at New Orleans from the perspective of historical, cultural, and physical geography, you will find that New Orleans was the original gateway to and from Latin America.

http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/multicultural/multiculturalhistory/latino.html
http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/Hondurans1.html
http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04152004-123822/unrestricted/Euraque_thesis.pdf
http://www.nola.com/175years/index.ssf/2012/01/ties_with_cuba_the_times-picay.html
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-01-28-Haiti-New-Orleans-connection_N.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-bell/new-orleans-haiti_b_1841502.html
http://blog.prcno.org/2010/01/13/haitian-roots-in-new-orleans/
http://www.filamako.com/2010/04/saint-malo-oldest-filipino-settlement-in-usa/