Louisiana Creole cuisine

Louisiana Creole Cuisine is a style of cooking originating in Louisiana, United States which blends French, Spanish, Indian, Caribbean, Portuguese, Greek, Canarian, West African, Amerindian, German, Italian and Irish influences, as well as influences from the general cuisine of the Southern United States.

Creole cuisine revolves around influences found in Louisiana from populations present in Louisiana before the sale of Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

Louisiana sits at a cross-roads for a large variety of immigrant influences. It's widely known that Louisiana was founded by the French, thus in Louisiana Creole is placed in a French aesthetic, with an emphasis on complex sauces and slow-cooking. Other immigrant cultures contributed substantially to what became Creole cuisine, despite white New Orleanians' attempt in the 20th century to suppress the connection between "Creole" and mixed heritage.

The Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Canary influences on Creole cuisine were in the heat of the peppers, the wide usage of citrus juice marinades, the supreme importance of rice, and the introduction of beans. The Portuguese, Spaniards and the Italians used tomatoes extensively, which had not been a frequent ingredient in the earlier French era. Pasta and tomato sauces arrived during the period when New Orleans was a popular destination for Italian, and Greek immigrants (roughly, 1815 to 1925). Many Italians and Greeks became grocers, bakers, cheese makers and orchard farmers, and so influenced the Creole cuisine in New Orleans and its suburbs. The African and Indian influences, which were extensive, came about because many of the servants and slaves were either African-American or Indian American, as were many of the cooks in restaurants and cafes.

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