Cajun vs. Creole Food - What is the Difference?

Both Cajun and Creole use the Holy Trinity of New Orleans cooking: green peppers, onions and celery. They both also rely on the roux (pronounced Roo) as the base of the dish. A roux is simply flour cooked in fat, either pork fat or butter, until it browns. This adds flavor and thickness to the dish. First, you make a roux," is the standard opening line for many Louisiana recipes. There's no denying the French heritage in Louisiana cuisine, Cajun cuisine in particular. Because of the scarcity of many things in early Louisiana, the Cajun roux was made with oil and flour and a bisque made without cream, a far cry from the French version of butter, flour, and cream.

Cultural Differences

The Cajun and Creole cultures are quite distinct and are reflected in their cuisines. A vastly simplified way to describe the two cuisines is to deem Creole cuisine as “city food” while Cajun cuisine is often referred to as “country food.” While many of the ingredients in Cajun and Creole dishes are similar, the real difference between the two styles is the people behind these famous cuisines.

Creole Culture

The Creoles were the offspring born in New Orleans of the European aristocrats, wooed by the Spanish to establish New Orleans in the early 1690s. Second-born sons, who could not own land or titles in their native countries, were offered the opportunity to live and prosper in their family traditions here in the New World. The term “Creole” describes the population of people who were born to these settlers in French colonial Louisiana, specifically in New Orleans. In the 18th century, Creoles consisted of the descendants of the French and Spanish upper class that ruled the city. "Creole," as a term, is a bit more complicated than "Cajun," in that it has multiple definitions. A whole lot of multiple definitions, actually. The simplest and shortest (but probably least relevant) definition of "Creole" is "born in the colonies." Today, the term Creole in New Orleans represents the native born children of the intermarriage of the early cultures settling the city.

The influences of classical and regional French, Spanish, German and Italian cooking are readily apparent in Creole cuisine. The Creoles were mostly from wealthy families and brought or sent for chefs from Madrid, Paris, and other European capitals. The terminologies, precepts, sauces and major dishes were carried over, some with more evolution than others, and provided a solid foundation for Creole cooking. Many of the ingredients the European chefs normally used in their cooking were unavailable locally. Governor Bienville, afraid of losing the new residents, asked his personal cook to teach the Creole people and their chefs how to make use of the native ingredients and to share his skills and techniques with them.

Bouillabaisse is a soup that came from the Provence region of France in and around Marseilles. This dish is integral to the history of Creole food because of the part it played in the creation of gumbo. When food is referred to as Creole, it is usually the traditional gourmet food of this wealthy community, but it's worth remembering that this food was generally developed by enslaved women working in their kitchens, so it has multiple influences (think French mother sauces with African and New World ingredients, like okra and filé).

Thus, the Creoles and their cooks discovered the wonderful shellfish, snapper, pompano, and other forms of seafood available in Louisiana. Native meats and game, and unfamiliar produce including mirlitons and cushaw, sugar cane, and pecans, were then adapted to the European cookery methods of the Creole chefs.

Cajun Culture

The word “Cajun” originates from the term “les Acadians,” which was used to describe French colonists who settled in the Acadia region of Canada, an area they called l'Acadie, which consisted of present-day New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia plus parts of eastern Quebec and northern Main. After 150 years of relatively peaceful farming and fishing on the edge of the Bay of Fundy, with the British Conquest of Acadia in 1605, the Acadians were forcibly removed from their home in what become known as Le Grand Dérangement, or the Great Upheaval.

Due to Le Grand Dérangement, many Acadians were invited to settle in Louisiana by the Spanish Governor Galvez, in what is now south-central Louisiana—an area known at the time as Attakapas, and later the center of the Acadiana region. As Brasseaux wrote, "The oldest of the pioneer communities ... Fausse Point, was established near present-day Loreauville by late June 1765." The Acadians shared the swamps, bayous and prairies with the Attakapa and Chitimacha Native American tribes. Actually, four regions of south Louisiana were settled by the Cajuns, each with different resources and influences. Those distinct areas are the levees and bayous (Lafourche and Teche), prairies (Attakapas Indian land), swamplands (Atchafalaya Basin), and coastal marshes (New Orleans area and Houma).

Unfamiliar with the terrain, they assimilated Creole and Native American influences into their Acadian traditions. Cajun cuisine focused on local ingredients and wild game (e.g., duck, rabbit), vegetables (e.g., okra, mirlitons), and grains. Coastal communities relied heavily on fish and shellfish. Seafood, especially shellfish, is still very popular in the region and remains a dominant feature of many classic Cajun dishes like seafood gumbo and court-bouillon. Since many Cajuns were farmers and not especially wealthy, they were known for not wasting any part of a butchered animal. Many rural communities held a weekly boucherie, which is a communal butchering of an animal, often a pig. Each family received a share of the meat. Some high-profile foods like grattons (pork cracklings) and boudin (cooked sausage made from pork meat and rice) are examples of Cajun cuisine that are widely popular.

Cajun Cuisine

These folks, who learned to farm and fish in cold Canadian climes, settled in the swampy, bayou-laced areas to the South and West of the small colony of New Orleans. The Acadians were an extremely resourceful people who combined the flatlands, bayous, and wild game of South Louisiana with its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico to create a truly unique local cuisine. Cajun cuisine is rustic, relying heavily on smoked and stewed meats and seafood dishes and richly spiced but not overly spicy, by the standards of the other Caribbean and subtropical cuisines. Rice is the typical starch, but sweet potatoes are also grown in Cajun regions and used in traditional dishes.

In general, Cajun dishes are the country cooking of Louisiana, highlighted by dirty rice, gumbos, jambalaya, andouille (pronounced ahnd-wee or ahn-do-wee, a spicy smoked sausage) and simple foods such as fried catfish. Cajun cooking traditionally uses pork fat and simpler ingredients. Some people will tell you that if a dish has tomatoes, it’s Creole, not Cajun. That isn’t always true. Tomatoes have been known to turn up in jambalaya or gumbo, which are both Cajun.

Like the poor Southerners of the nineteenth century, the Cajun diet depended on what was available -- cornbread, molasses, salted meat and beans, and greens in season. Only people living along the coast had seafood, and rice -- now a daily staple -- wasn't introduced until near the end of the nineteenth century. Foods like crawfish, and the popular seasoning mixture of onions, celery, and green peppers were not widely used until the twentieth century, but have fast become a tradition.

Cajun cuisine is characterized by the use of wild game, seafoods, wild vegetation and herbs. From their association with the Indians, the Cajuns learned techniques to best utilize the local products from the swamps, bayous, lakes, rivers and woods. Truly remarkable are the variations that have resulted from similar ingredients carefully combined in the black iron pots of the Cajuns. Jambalaya, grillades, stews, fricassees, soups, gumbos, sauce piquantes and a host of stuffed vegetable dishes are all characteristic of these new Cajun "one pot meals."

With no access to modern-day luxuries like refrigerators, early Cajuns learned to make use of every part of a slaughtered animal. When a pig is butchered the event is called a “boucherie.” Boudin, a type of Cajun sausage which consists of pork meat, rice, and seasoning stuffed into a casing, also commonly contains pig liver for a little extra flavor. Tasso and Andouille sausage are two other Cajun pork products that use salts and smoke as preservatives. From the Germans, the Cajuns were reintroduced to charcuterie and today make andouille, smoked sausage, boudin, chaudin, tasso and chaurice, unparalleled in the world of sausage making.

According to Mathe Allain from the Center for Louisiana Studies, beef was tough and fibrous before the twentieth century. The French grillade, broiled meat, became beef steak cubes in a rich gravy and served over rice. Chickens were not eaten until past their laying times, thus the tenderizing gumbos and fricassees.

Cajun food is famous for being very well seasoned which is sometimes misunderstood as spicy. Seasoning is one of the most important parts of Cajun cooking, and that comes from much more than a heavy helping of cayenne pepper. Most dishes begin with a medley of vegetables based on the French mirepoix. “The holy trinity of Cajun cuisine” utilizes onion, celery, and bell pepper (rather than carrots) to provide a flavor base for many dishes. Garlic is never far away from any stove, either. Paprika, thyme, file (ground sassafras leaves), parsley, green onions, and much more are also very common ingredients in Cajun kitchens.

While many Acadiana residents today have African, Native American, German, French, or Italian roots, among others (which have all influence Louisiana Cuisine in their own ways), their way of life is strongly influenced by the Cajun culture. The term "Acadian" morphed in English into "Cajun," and was used largely as a derogatory term until it was reclaimed during Cajun pride movements in the mid-20th century. Along with its food, this rural area of Louisiana is famous for its Cajun French music and language.

Creole Cuisine

Creole cuisine is thought of as a little higher brow or aristocratic compare to Cajun. Creole is the food of the city, a more refined cuisine represented by Oysters Rockefeller, Shrimp Remoulade and Bananas Foster. It traditionally used the butter available to the wealthy Creoles, and more expensive ingredients.

Traditionally, slaves in the kitchens of well-to-do members of society prepared the food. Due to the abundance of time and resources, the dishes consisted of an array of spices from various regions and creamy soups and sauces. A remoulade sauce, for example, which consists of nearly a dozen ingredients, would not typically be found in Cajun kitchens. Creole cuisine has a bit more variety, because of the easier access Creoles had to exotic ingredients and the wide mix of cultures that contributed to the cuisine. That’s why you find tomatoes in Creole jambalaya and not in Cajun jambalaya (this dish is one of a few that have distinct Creole and Cajun varieties) or why a lot of times you find a Creole roux made with butter and flour while a Cajun roux is made with oil and flour.

Like the people, Creole food is a blend of the various cultures of New Orleans including Italian, Spanish, African, German, Caribbean, Native American, and Portuguese, to name a few. Tips and seasoning ingredients from the native Indians, and the Caribbean and African cooks helped give birth to Creole cooking. Africans introduced okra; the Spanish, spices and red peppers; the Germans, black pepper, and mustard; the Irish, potatoes. In addition, file powder came from the Choctaw Indians; allspice and peppers from the West Indians; and garlic and tomatoes from the Italians.

The Spanish, who actually played host to this new adventure, gave Creole food its spice, many great cooks and paella, which was the forefather of Louisiana's jambalaya. Paella is the internationally famous Spanish rice dish made with vegetables, meats and sausages. On the coastline, seafoods were often substituted for meats. Jambalaya has variations as well, according to the local ingredients available at different times of the year.

The Germans who arrived in Louisiana in 1725 were knowledgeable in all forms of charcuterie and helped establish the boucherie and fine sausage making in South Louisiana. They brought with them not only pigs, but chicken and cattle as well. A good steady supply of milk and butter was seldom available in South Louisiana prior to the arrival of the Germans.

The Italians were famous for their culinary talents. They were summoned to France by Catherine de Medicis to teach their pastry and ice cream making skills to Europeans. Many Creole dishes reflect the Italian influence and their love of good cooking.

From the West Indies and the smoke pots of Haiti came exotic vegetables and cooking methods. Braising, a slow-cooking technique, contributed to the development of our gumbos. Mirlitons, sauce piquantes and the use of tomato rounded out the emerging Creole cuisine.

Native Indians, the Choctaws, Chetimaches and Houmas, befriended the new settlers and introduced them to local produce, wildlife and cooking methods. New ingredients, such as corn, ground sassafras leaves or filé powder and bay leaves from the laurel tree all contributed to the culinary melting pot.

The Africans brought with them the "kin gumbo" or okra plant from their native soil which not only gave name to our premier soup, but introduced a new vegetable to South Louisiana. Even more importantly, African Americans have maintained a significant role in development of Creole cuisine in the home as well as the professional kitchen.

Creole cuisine is indebted to many unique people and diverse cultures who were willing to contribute and share their cooking styles, ingredients and talent. Obviously, Creole cuisine represents the history of sharing in South Louisiana. Early on in the history of New Orleans, the Creole wives became frustrated, not being able to duplicate their old world dishes with new world products. Governor Bienville helped to solve this problem by commissioning his housekeeper, Madame Langlois, to introduce them to local vegetables, meats and seafoods in what became the first cooking school in America. This school aided them in developing their cuisine in a new and strange land.

And so, South Louisiana has two rich histories and two unique cuisines: the Creole cuisine with its rich array of courses indicating its close tie to European aristocracy; and Cajun cuisine with its one pot meals, pungent with the flavor of seafood and game.