Ask A Cajun

hangman

almost-scientist
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
776
Location
New Yoronavirus
I don't usually visit the OT board much, but I am bored. I enjoy explaining the complexities of Louisiana culture and demographics, though, so fire away!

I'm not as adept at Louisiana history, so I may be sketchy in some areas. Some personal questions about Louisiana life will be allowed as well.
 
A little. Most of us nowadays grow up speaking English, but about 15% still speak french at home primarily. My grandparents are both native French speakers, as are many of my more distant relatives. Additionally, there are a couple of distinct French-inflected dialects of English in circulation, although I've always had a pretty neutral accent.

During the earlier part of last century, the state government instituted a number of policies directed at suppressing the use of French. All instruction became monolingual in English and most people of my grandparents' age have horror stories about it. It often went beyond corporal punishment to outright child abuse.

When World War II came, the government recognized the benefit of having a population bilingual in French. Cajun French is derived from archaic French from the Anjou/Poitou area, and was well received by the locals. I believe the ban on French in its entirety was lifted, but instruction was still monolingual in English. In the 1960's CODOFIL was formed to try and salvage the use of French, but the damage was already done, and French still remains in decline today. There is some ongoing controversy on whether to import French teachers from the Francophonie or to recruit (harder to find) native speakers to prevent dilution of the Cajun dialects. I think the situation has gotten desperate enough that they are leaning toward the former approach.

French Immersion programs currently exist at select schools throughout Acadiana, and for kids who don't need remedial classes, lessons in French begin in 4th grade at most schools in southern Louisiana. My vocabulary and grammar are very limited, but I can pass for French if I'm just reading something aloud :D
 
What's a Cajun?
 
What's a Cajun?

This is actually becoming a more complicated question nowadays, but basically, someone descended from the Acadian exiles in Louisiana. We have a culture distinct from surrounding areas of the US. Not all Cajuns are necessarily of French descent though. It's complicated, but I assume you're looking for a quick answer. Wikipedia has a good article.
 
What is a good recipe for remoulade? Are there any good commercially premade remoulades?

What goes into a muffuletta?
 
What is a good recipe for remoulade? Are there any good commercially premade remoulades?

What goes into a muffuletta?

Those are both Creole foods, so I have no idea :p

I've never tried their remoulade, but Zatarain's has a version, and they're usually pretty authentic Creole.
 
Is Lafayette a nice place to live? I might be there for a few months on a project. How's the restaurant scene, nightlife and etc? I assume pretty decent being the Cajun heartland, but the small population worries me. Is there a city vibe to it at all? How bad is the traffic from downtown to Broussard?
 
Is Lafayette a nice place to live? I might be there for a few months on a project. How's the restaurant scene, nightlife and etc? I assume pretty decent being the Cajun heartland, but the small population worries me. Is there a city vibe to it at all? How bad is the traffic from downtown to Broussard?

Oh yeah, Lafayette gets consistently high ratings on quality of life. I have my own reasons for not wanting to live there, but for a fresh set of eyes, it's not bad. We actually have the highest ratio of restaurants to people in the US, IIRC, and there's a fairly diverse selection. Night life is also not bad. A core feature of our culture is getting wasted ;) so you may actually be surprised at how liberal alcohol laws are there for a red state. Lafayette actually does have a little of the 'big city' vibe downtown, but it covers a small area. Also Johnston Street has tons of businesses, you can drive down it for 30+ minutes before getting out the 'city vibe' area. Getting to Broussard is a straight shot down HWY 90. The traffic usually isn't a problem, but sometimes there are events at the airport that can cause a back-up.

By the way, whatever you do, DON'T GO TO CARENCRO OR THE NORTHSIDE! I'm warning you!

Also, a lot of people from outside the area say the accent is difficult to understand sometimes, so maybe listen to how Cajun dialects sound on youtube or something.
 
What's the best vegetarian dish from Cajun cuisine, in your opinion?

What are your favorite stereotypes about Cajuns? The least favorite? And what's the most stereotypically Cajun thing about you, if any?

If you suddenly had to live in a random village in France, where few or no people could speak English, and everyone (obviously) spoke French, do you think you'd be able to survive? (Or, rather, communicate competently to move on with your life)
 
What's the best vegetarian dish from Cajun cuisine, in your opinion?

Hmmm... that's a tough one. I'd go with a vegetarian gumbo. There's also maque-choux and cush-cush, but I've never had either, since they aren't as popular as they used to be.

What are your favorite stereotypes about Cajuns? The least favorite? And what's the most stereotypically Cajun thing about you, if any?

Most favorite:
We like to party :beer:

Least favorite:
That we're stupid (at least, anymore than the surrounding population)

Personally:
When I was a (very bored) teen, I went in the ditch behind our house and fished out enough crawfish to make a meal out of them XD I also have relatives who have legitimately lived in a swamp.

If you suddenly had to live in a random village in France, where few or no people could speak English, and everyone (obviously) spoke French, do you think you'd be able to survive? (Or, rather, communicate competently to move on with your life)

:lol: I'd probably be starved and sleep deprived, but I know enough basic words that I don't think I'd die.
 
Could you explain a bit about the differences between Cajun and Creole culture? As someone not intimately familiar with the area and history I must admit they kind of blend together in my mind.

So Cajuns are mostly descended from french settlers of the maritime provinces of Canada who were expelled by the British during The French and Indian War and then resettled in Louisiana, while the Creole are a mix of French, Spanish, african and others who settled the area around New Orleans? What are the major differences in culture today? I guess that while the Creole are strongly influenced by french and catholic culture they are more mixed, while the Cajun are more strongly influenced by french and a bit more rural?
 
Is the whole "Louisiana is a giant swamp filled with aligators and voodoo witches" rumour true? Or I should watch a whole lot less serials?
 
Oh yeah, Lafayette gets consistently high ratings on quality of life. I have my own reasons for not wanting to live there, but for a fresh set of eyes, it's not bad. We actually have the highest ratio of restaurants to people in the US, IIRC, and there's a fairly diverse selection. Night life is also not bad. A core feature of our culture is getting wasted ;) so you may actually be surprised at how liberal alcohol laws are there for a red state. Lafayette actually does have a little of the 'big city' vibe downtown, but it covers a small area. Also Johnston Street has tons of businesses, you can drive down it for 30+ minutes before getting out the 'city vibe' area. Getting to Broussard is a straight shot down HWY 90. The traffic usually isn't a problem, but sometimes there are events at the airport that can cause a back-up.

By the way, whatever you do, DON'T GO TO CARENCRO OR THE NORTHSIDE! I'm warning you!

Also, a lot of people from outside the area say the accent is difficult to understand sometimes, so maybe listen to how Cajun dialects sound on youtube or something.

:goodjob:
Thanks for the input. So where should I tell the company to get me a corporate flat? Downtown? Near ULL? Near the Mall of Acadiana?

And how do the local girls look? :D
 
Could you explain a bit about the differences between Cajun and Creole culture? As someone not intimately familiar with the area and history I must admit they kind of blend together in my mind.

So Cajuns are mostly descended from french settlers of the maritime provinces of Canada who were expelled by the British during The French and Indian War and then resettled in Louisiana, while the Creole are a mix of French, Spanish, african and others who settled the area around New Orleans? What are the major differences in culture today? I guess that while the Creole are strongly influenced by french and catholic culture they are more mixed, while the Cajun are more strongly influenced by french and a bit more rural?

That's approximately correct. Cajun ethnicity is based on French, but often including Mi'ikmaq, Atakapas, Chitimacha, Italian, and German components. Originally, the Acadiana area was populated by Colonial French people, and they composed the upper class when the Acadian exiles arrived. The two cultures have essentially merged since then, but you can still here remnants of the Colonial dialect in some areas. The definition of "Cajun" ethnicity (as well as Creole) is actually pretty flexible here, like the idea of "Hispanic," so some people have no French heritage at all. It would unusual, but possible I suppose, for people of Black or Native American ancestry to claim Cajun heritage as well.

Creole ethnicity has relatively less French influence, and was present in Louisiana already when the Acadians arrived. There's a much greater component of African descent, usually of Haitian and Yoruba origin, which contributed to the development of Voodoo. Creoles also have a higher portion of Italian and Canary Islander heritage. Creole culture is primarily focused just on New Orleans, but other Creole cultures exist in other parts of Louisiana as well.

Creoles actually have their own language, which is unintelligible to a generic Cajun French speaker. Creole culture on the whole has a more 'Caribbean' flavor, while Cajun culture is more 'Latin.'

Is the whole "Louisiana is a giant swamp filled with aligators and voodoo witches" rumour true? Or I should watch a whole lot less serials?

Nope. But please don't watch less of our wonderful new TV/movies, we're trying to kick off a media industry :lol:

About half of Acadiana is actually just prairie, with lots of sugar cane and rice/crawfish farms. Those who live in the swampy half of Acadiana live along levees or clustered on the occasional high ground, so they're not really in the swamp, per se, and they're not that isolated. North of Acadiana and in the Florida Parishes is mostly hills and forests, no swamps there. Our swamps are filled with alligators though, and ULL actually has a miniature swamp with alligators just behind the student union.

Voodoo is basically a Creole thing, but Cajuns can be superstitious too. It's not so much that we're more superstitious on the whole, just that the superstitions are different.

:goodjob:
Thanks for the input. So where should I tell the company to get me a corporate flat? Downtown? Near ULL? Near the Mall of Acadiana?

Probably downtown, and ULL's close by. The Mall of Acadiana is way out there, I wouldn't stay near there. The southeast side is kind of ritzy in some areas, if that's your thing.

And how do the local girls look? :D

Pretty good! hehe. Cajuns naturally tend to be a bit darker complexioned than most white people; maybe about 10-15% of us are more olive-skinned than white, and natural blondes are pretty rare. Probably has something to do with Native American ancestry.
 
Would it please you to know that a group of Star Trek fanfiction writers have been, for the past 25+ years, writing stories in a setting where one of the major characters is a Cajun engineer who is naturally gifted (cursed in his view) with telepathy? I have no idea how authentic they've made the character. They write his speech so that the reader has to imagine an accent so it makes sense. :)
 
What's there in New Orleans to see for someone interested in history and science?
 
I am pleased :king:

The fact that they didn't make him a backwoods idiot is probably enough to make up for whatever else they may have botched. I'm kind of curious; link?
They also made him a musician. :)

The main page: http://www.valjiir.us/

For the list of stories and poems, click the Stories button on the left: http://www.valjiir.us/valjiir.html

Noel DelMonde's character profile: http://www.valjiir.us/del.html


Warning for anyone who chooses to browse the Valjiir Continuum site: Some of the illustrations are NSFW. Much of the material on this site is R-rated, and some of the characters are in same-sex relationships. None of the above links violate CFC's "one-click" rule.
 
What's there in New Orleans to see for someone interested in history and science?

History? Pretty much everything you look at in the central part has some kind of history behind it. The French Quarter is especially notable for architectural history.

Science... I'm more iffy on. NASA has an assembly center in NOLA but it's probably not ideal for visits. Maybe the Audubon Zoo?

I'm not that familiar with New Orleans, but it's usually regarded as the culture hub of the state, while Baton Rouge probably has more to offer for academic and government interests.
 
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