The huge presence of African American chefs is gradually taking Creole cooking to a pinnacle.  Can you imagine a great Gumbo without that soulful zest and traditionally African ingredients such as file, cayenne, rice and okra?  But success has many parents.  Every local ethnic group lays claim to a significant contribution to New Orleans cuisine.  American Indians, Spaniards, Africans, French, and Italians each speak truth about their major contributions to this fusion of gastronomic delight.  To understand why and how this cuisine became so multi-faceted, consider the cultural history of New Orleans.

    Everything began with a group of American Indians who welcomed the French shortly after 1700American Indians contributed corn and local shellfish, while Spaniards brought larger fish and the first European food preservation and preparation methods. In 1767, Spaniards took control of the land adding their cuisine, which was influenced by the Moors incursions to Spain from 1000 AD through the Crusades.  A lot more seafood and Spanish cooking methods entered the cuisine.

    The Spaniards also brought Islenos Africans from the Canary Islands; they of course brought the first African flava'.  Islenos were freed after several years of service and settled in St Bernard district.  Then the Spaniards brought African slaves arrived from the Caribbean who further developed okra, kale, rice, sugar and peanut growing methods on nearby plantations.  Others became slave cooks or earned their freedom as independent caterers.  This activity led to Gumbo and Jambalaya, among others.  The French returned to control the land by 1800 before selling it in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase to the United States.  If only briefly, the French reasserted their preference for aristocratic presentation of fine food and a taste for desserts.  Those delightful pralines sure taste like an African cook's response to a French sweet tooth.

    At this point its appropriate to explain that regional cuisine split into urban (Creole) and country (Cajun) and derivations. Technically, a Creole is a city resident who claims to be of French descent and speaks a mixture of French and English. They believe in the art of sophisticated living, no matter how short their average life span.  Terms like "joie de vivre” and “bon appetite” are ways of life.  These folk predominate as chefs around town.

    Many free African cooks lived in the backyards of French Quarter homeowners, while slave cooks and independent caterers tended to many Garden District aristocrats of the 1800s and early 1900s.  With the takeover by the United States, New Orleans attracted Americans of all stripes.  Italians arrived in the 1890s, bringing their gastronomic culture and imported sausage, fruit & vegetables to the mix.  The tasty Muffaletta cold-cut sandwich of lettuce, tomato, sausage and spices is a welcome result.

    As the African American presence grew in the 1900s, their influence played a larger role in Creole cuisine and the emerging hybrid known today as Creole-Soul Food.  The tradition of male chefs is proudly manifest around town.  Cooking is such a way of life that Black men often brag and bet that they are better cooks than their wives!   If you're looking for a good meal, agree to buy the ingredients and dare the average Brother to cook something better than his wife, sister, or mother.  If you request Gumbo, the ingredient list to include chicken broth, tomato, bay leaf, thyme, shortening, sliced beef, pork or turkey sausage, salt, pepper, garlic, okra, onion, bell pepper, parsley, file powder, skinless chicken, baby shrimp and hot sauce.  Of course tourists will have to stick around for the delicious results best experienced at Dooky Chase Restaurant.