Page 32 - Waves April

CAJUN CORNER:

CAJUN|TEXAS INFLUENCES

by: Christopher Bergeron

In the third installment of the Cajun Corner Series, we will dive into my favorite

topic second to Music: FOOD! Texas tables have awesome Cajun inspired cusine
sprinkled with Texas flavor that screams for a second and third helping!
Bon Appétit!

“Born and raised in
Thibodaux, Louisiana in ‘78,
I relocated to Texas in 2007,
first to League City then to
Galveston Island.

It is astounding the number
of Louisiana folks that call
Texas home. One doesn’t
have to venture far to find
similarities between Cajun
and Texas culture. Food,
music, celebrations and a
deep sense of family are all
evidence that Texas culture
has influenced Cajun culture
just as much as Cajun culture
has influenced Texas Culture;
to the point where it’s practi-
cally indistinguishable.

This column highlights many F ood Many of those dishes begin with the “trinity”
of the similarities in cuisine, of aromatics for Cajun cooking, onion,
music, lifestyle and good C ajuns love to eat and it is their celery, and bell pepper, dropped in the ubiq-
folks that keep the roots of cuisine that has had a profound uitous roux, a blend of oil or fat and flour,
impact on Texas.
Cajun culture alive right here darkened in a pot to shades ranging from
on the Island. So, let’s roll. “ Long before the Cajun food craze of the blonde to very brown.
1980s, when chef Paul Prudhomme turned
-Christopher Bergeron the whole country onto blackened redfish Although historically based on provincial
and other delicacies, Cajuns and Texans French cooking, Cajun cooking adapted
were sharing their pots of spicy dishes. to available ingredients and incorporated
various styles from their neighbors, the Ger-
32 | Waves Magazine | May 2019 Issue