Cajun Foodways by C Paige Gutierrez

This book has not been indexed yet...

Notes about this book

This book does not currently have any notes.

You must Create an Account or Sign In to add a note to this book.

Reviews about this book

This book does not currently have any reviews.

  • ISBN 10 0878055622
  • ISBN 13 9780878055623
  • Published Apr 12 2000
  • Format Hardcover
  • Page Count 149
  • Language English
  • Countries United States
  • Publisher University Press of Mississippi
  • Imprint University Press of Mississippi

Publishers Text

Cajun food has become a popular "ethnic" food throughout America during the last decade. This fascinating book explores the significance of Cajun cookery on its home turf in south Louisiana, a region marked by startling juxtapositions of the new and the old, the nationally standard and the locally unique. Neither a cookbook nor a restaurant guide, Cajun Foodways gives interpretation to the meaning of traditional Cajun food from the perspective of folklife studies and cultural anthropology. The author takes into account the modern regional popular culture in examining traditional foodways of the Cajuns. Based upon her meticulous field research, this book includes detailed descriptions of ingredients, dishes, cooking aesthetics, and events that center on Cajun food. The author describes and analyzes "crawfish boils" and other special Cajun food events and explains how foodways are enlisted in the expression of ethnic identity. As this study shows, Cajuns claim to be unusually food-oriented, unusually talented in preparing of foods, and unusual in their ability to enjoy food. Cajuns' attention to their own traditional foodways is more than merely nostalgia or a clever marketing ploy to lure tourists and sell local products. The symbolic power of Cajun food is deeply rooted in Cajuns' ethnic identity, especially their attachments to their natural environment and their love of being with people, both Cajuns and non-Cajuns. Foodways are an effective symbol for what it means to be a Cajun today. The reader interested in food and in cooking - Cajun or otherwise - will find much appeal in this book, for it illustrates a new way to think about how and why people eat as they do.

Other cookbooks by this author