Exotic delights Taste The World
CHEF Lance Seeto's new cooking show takes viewers on an exploration of international flavours using local produce, new ingredients and a little Fijian twist. Today he gives readers a sneak preview of the recipes and story behind tomorrow night's episode – Southern America.
Walk down the aisles of any new premium supermarket in Fiji and you'll rewarded with an array of international spices, sauces and ingredients that many may be unfamiliar with but opens up a world of new recipes to try at home using local produce. Serving lots of fresh vegetables, meats and seafood is key to battling non-communicable diseases as they contain nutrition, fibre and healing ingredients. And to get the family to eat more fresh foods and relieve the boredom of eating the same dishes, you only need to change a marinade, a sauce or add newly discovered dry spices that the evolving supermarket chains now stock. Spices including paprika, oregano, thyme and cayenne pepper are unknown in Fijian cuisine because they were never introduced to this part of the world during the 18th and 19th century spice trade. However with access to these today, there is no excuse to start learning new recipes from different parts of the world. New foods helps broaden the palate of family members, especially the young ones, and gives them more reason to eat fresh, locally grown foods whilst taking them on a culinary journey of far away cultures that have been experimenting and evolving their foods for generations. The story of Louisiana may just inspire the family cook to try the spiced-up recipes of Creole cuisine.
The southern regions of the USA including Louisiana have a strong Native American heritage, inspired by its agricultural richness with classic dishes like cornbread, gumbo and the slow-cooked barbeque. Europeans of wealth and stature settled in the city of New Orleans and brought with them a palate for more gentrified cuisine reminiscent of their French, Spanish or English roots. Over time, servants and cooks of African descent learned these sophisticated recipes and techniques and blended them with their spicy, herb-infused cooking. Before long, tastes mingled into a soulful mix that became the defining taste of what is called, Creole cuisine.
Where is Lousiana?
Louisiana sits above the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River, bordered by Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east and Texas to the west. Originally colonized by the French during the 18th century, it became U.S. territory as part of the historic Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and was admitted to the union in 1812. Louisiana's capital city is Baton Rouge. It is also home to the historic port city New Orleans, which is famous for its unique cuisine, jazz and spectacular Mardi Gras festival. Some natives of Louisiana consider themselves Cajun or Creole. Cajun refers to a cross-cultural mix of several ethnic groups, including French Creole, Spanish, German and Anglo-American. The word Creole comes from the Spanish word "Criollo," which means "one from the colony."
What is creole ?
Creole refers to the original European—particularly French and Spanish— settlers of New Orleans. They were mostly from wealthy families and brought or sent for chefs from Madrid, Paris, and other European capitals. Many of the ingredients the European chefs normally used in their cooking were unavailable locally. The governor of the time was afraid of losing the new residents as he was building his colony, so 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. You can see why this region has much to offer us; their story of using local produce in new ways has similarities to how Fijians are learning new cooking methods today. Thus, the Creoles and their cooks discovered the wonderful shellfish, snapper and other forms of seafood available in Louisiana. Native meats and game, and unfamiliar produce and vegetables including mirlitons and cushaw, sugar cane, and pecans, were then adapted to the European cookery methods of the Creole chefs.
New ingredients introduced
Cooking 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 brought spices, chilli and capsicum, and the Germans introduced black pepper and mustard, whilst the Irish brought with them potatoes. Filé powder, also known as gumbo filé, is an herbal powder made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree and came from the Choctaw Indians. Whilst allspice and chilli came from the West Indians; and garlic and tomatoes from the Italians. Without such a rich mix of migrant culture during the development of this region, Creole cuisine would never have been born. Creole cooking is city cooking: refined, delicate and luxurious, developed and originally prepared by servants. There is greater emphasis on cream, butter, seafood, tomatoes, herbs, and garlic, and less use of cayenne pepper and file powder than in Cajun cooking, resulting in rich sauces, elegant pureed bisques, and time-intensive soups, brunch dishes, and desserts.
What is cajun cooking?
Cajun and Creole are two distinct cultures within the same state of Louisiana, and both have their own unique stories. The southwest section of Louisiana is predominately populated by Cajun people applied their French cooking techniques to the new ingredients they discovered, with a result that is recognized and respected as some of the best regional cooking in America, as well as one of the world's most unique cuisines. Where Creole cuisine can be defined as "city food", 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 and the locally available produce.
The only place to get true Creole and Cajun food is in Louisiana. However, if travelling to Southern USA is not in your plans, tomorrow night's episode will show you a few tips to inspire you to enjoy the flavours of this unique part of America.
Lance Seeto is the host of FBC-TV’s Exotic Delights: Taste the World, every Monday and Thursday night and is also the executive chef at Malamala Beach Club and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism’s Culinary Ambassador.