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Louisiana Cuisine


Mith242

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^They're basically pillows of pastty filled with all kinds of different fruits. They come in lemon, cherry, apple, etc. your sandard pie flavors, as well as a few others. If either of you ever happen to see one, I recommend trying one, they cost $1 at the most. :thumbsup:

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Okay I've seen coffee mentioned several times so I figured it was about time to ask some questions about it. I've gotten the impression that coffee has been important there before Seattle helped fuel this more recent coffee craze. Is this true and I was curious what styles of coffee are popular there?

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Coffee has always been very popular in New Orleans. For many stopping somewhere like Cafe Du Monde, PJ's,(a New Orleans born coffee shop that is much more popular in the area than Starbucks) or making coffee in the morning is the first event of the day. Coffee styles that have alot of flavor are popular around here. Many love a good Cafe au Lait, chickory roasted, or French roasted coffee. :D

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Louisiana and certain parts of Mississippi....but most places wouldn't feature a real po'boy. There are many restaurants which call themselves "Cajun" which might purport to serve you something like Cajun or Creole food, but it is very, very difficult to find good Cajun or Creole cooking outside of the area. I know of three in D.C. which are but a faint glimmer of the real thing. The one I mentioned above happens to have an owner from Jackson who has also lived in New Orleans. It's one of the very few which manage to pull the delicate job off well.

Your definately right though lots of places claim "Cajun" food, but few live up to the real authentic stuff. Luckily for me, Paducah, KY has a real live "Cajun" restuarant downtown not far from the Ohio River that is authentic, and man is it good. :D I'll never forget eating Red-Beans and Rice with Sausage and a side of cabbage in little old restaurant Morgan City, Louisiana, man that was an awesome experiance/memory that I doubt I'll ever forget. The Public Works director there told me where to go for "authentic" food, and he did not steer me wrong. You gan't go wrong in Cajun Country, definatley one of the best places to visit, explore, and find awesome places to eat/visit in the nation IMO.

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Your definately right though lots of places claim "Cajun" food, but few live up to the real authentic stuff. Luckily for me, Paducah, KY has a real live "Cajun" restuarant downtown not far from the Ohio River that is authentic, and man is it good. :D I'll never forget eating Red-Beans and Rice with Sausage and a side of cabbage in little old restaurant Morgan City, Louisiana, man that was an awesome experiance/memory that I doubt I'll ever forget. The Public Works director there told me where to go for "authentic" food, and he did not steer me wrong. You gan't go wrong in Cajun Country, definatley one of the best places to visit, explore, and find awesome places to eat/visit in the nation IMO.

Yeah I know what you mean. The same applies to 'Mexican' food. I don't know how many places I've seen that's actually Tex-Mex.

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Okay I know this may repeat some info but I want to know more about what's quintessential for Louisiana cuisine whether it be cajun/creole or whatever else. I'm actually doing something work related and need to try to get some essentials for people from Louisiana living in northwest Arkansas now. What items would you guys consider a must have for a grocery store to carry?

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Okay I know this may repeat some info but I want to know more about what's quintessential for Louisiana cuisine whether it be cajun/creole or whatever else. I'm actually doing something work related and need to try to get some essentials for people from Louisiana living in northwest Arkansas now. What items would you guys consider a must have for a grocery store to carry?

Just to make sure, are you talking about food in Lousiana in general, or food in differen't areas of the state?

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If you had to put all of the favorite foods in Louisianians into categories, I would say; seafood, all cajun/creole cooking, the general southern type meals (what you will find anywhere around the South), BBQ, and Tex-Mex, which is popular mostly in the western parts of the state. Mexican food is also very popular. :D

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If you had to put all of the favorite foods in Louisianians into categories, I would say; seafood, all cajun/creole cooking, the general southern type meals (what you will find anywhere around the South), BBQ, and Tex-Mex, which is popular mostly in the western parts of the state. Mexican food is also very popular. :D

I guess I'm looking for more the type of stuff that wouldn't already be found up here in NWA. The company I work for runs around 50 stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. In one of the stores, which also happens to be the one I live near and do most of my shopping at, happens to have a number of Louisiana people that shop there on a regular basis. I'd already noticed the meat dept carrying a lot of stuff I'm not used to seeing. Remember me mentioning the crawdads/crawfish earlier? I'd expressed some interest so I'm sort of been put in charge of trying to put in a small Louisiana section in the store now. I'm just trying to get an idea of what to try to put in.

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I'd expressed some interest so I'm sort of been put in charge of trying to put in a small Louisiana section in the store now. I'm just trying to get an idea of what to try to put in.

Oh ok, well I can definately help you there. Though, as there is such a major cultural divide in Louisiana, do you know what part of the state most of the Louisiana people are from? I ask because they could be from NW Louisiana and care less about seafood, or they could be from SE Louisiana and be seafood lovers, and it works this way with many types of Louisiana foods.

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Oh ok, well I can definately help you there. Though, as there is such a major cultural divide in Louisiana, do you know what part of the state most of the Louisiana people are from? I ask because they could be from NW Louisiana and care less about seafood, or they could be from SE Louisiana and be seafood lovers, and it works this way with many types of Louisiana foods.

These are people who left Louisiana because of Katrina so I'm assuming they're from southern Louisiana but I admit I don't really know where most of the people are from. From what I have gathered talking to a couple of people, the meat dept has had a lot of requests and they seem to be the ones that have mainly brought stuff in. They've brought in some frozen crawdads, which hasn't gone over big since as you mentioned before people down there are used to fresh. They brought in some frozen alligator recently. They started carrying a lot more fresh seafood. They've also started carrying more pork products as well. Someone mentioned that someone mentioned not being able to find some of the spices/seasonings they are accustomed to buying. That's what I've been looking into the most so far with the distributors trying to see what can be brought in. But I figured while I was at it I might as well see what else I could bring in. I also managed to find some canned okra, I think one even creole spiced or something along those lines.

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^One thing that should definately be brought in is cajun/creole spices. I think you guys would have plenty of success with that, as even if the ingredients aren't as fresh as what you could get in New Orleans, good seasoning and spices make the dish much better. Frozen Crawfish is probably as good as your gonna get, unless you guys wanted to bring in live Crawfish and then have a Crawfish Boil, which is a major event in SE Louisiana and would probably be popular. Hot Sauce is another key that would sell well, and I would definately look into okra, which it looks like you have, and of course rice, which I know Arkansas has plenty of. :D

Also, if there was anyway to get any French types of bread, like a baguette, or other types, they would proably sell very well also. The most popular item would probably be fresh New Orleans French Bread, but the only place to find New Orleas French Bread like New Orleanians are used to, is in New Orleans. Though I really think other types of French breads and such would sell well.

I hope that helps a little bit, if there is any more stuff you would like to know about, let me know I'll try my best to help you out. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have another odd question. Is there a particular type of rice or brand that is used in Louisiana or is well known?

From what I have seen most, everyone seems to have their own personal favorites, and some people use differnt brands for different dishes.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm bumping this thread up, because I was hoping some of our newer members from NW Louisiana could explain the general cuisine up there, and how it differs from other areas of the state. :)

Sorry, I've been ignoring this thread because it makes me think of food... and food has been known to be detrimental to my health and my waistline.

Northern Louisiana has a lot of Mexican, Chinese, and Japanese restaurants. We have a million Mexican and Chinese places and 5 or 6 Japanese places (I think that's a lot.) However we have a good mix of Cajun places, local and regional/national. We have Copeland's, we have Ralph & Kacoo's, Don's Seafood, etc. Lots of crawfish restaurants and roadside crawfish stands as well. Our cuisine is more a mix of Texas and Louisiana, but it's a good mix... lots of both!

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Sorry, I've been ignoring this thread because it makes me think of food... and food has been known to be detrimental to my health and my waistline.

Northern Louisiana has a lot of Mexican, Chinese, and Japanese restaurants. We have a million Mexican and Chinese places and 5 or 6 Japanese places (I think that's a lot.) However we have a good mix of Cajun places, local and regional/national. We have Copeland's, we have Ralph & Kacoo's, Don's Seafood, etc. Lots of crawfish restaurants and roadside crawfish stands as well. Our cuisine is more a mix of Texas and Louisiana, but it's a good mix... lots of both!

Interesting I guess I hadn't considered Texas. Although obviously Shreveport is in the northwest part of the state. I wonder if it's also that way in northeast Louisiana.

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Interesting I guess I hadn't considered Texas. Although obviously Shreveport is in the northwest part of the state. I wonder if it's also that way in northeast Louisiana.

Yea, east Texas has quite an influence on NW Louisiana and it's cuisine. From what I've always experienced, you'll find quite a bit of seafood up in NW Louisiana, but not as much as in south Louisiana. In south Louisiana, you'll find quite a bit of BBQ, but not as much as in NW Louisiana, if that makes any sense. :P

I'm really not very familiar with NE Louisiana(I really want to change that) so I don't know much about the cuisine of the area, but I'd love to find out.

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Yea, east Texas has quite an influence on NW Louisiana and it's cuisine. From what I've always experienced, you'll find quite a bit of seafood up in NW Louisiana, but not as much as in south Louisiana. In south Louisiana, you'll find quite a bit of BBQ, but not as much as in NW Louisiana, if that makes any sense. :P

I'm really not very familiar with NE Louisiana(I really want to change that) so I don't know much about the cuisine of the area, but I'd love to find out.

Nate let me ask you a somewhat offtopic question. I know you are familiar with southwest Arkansas. Do you think southwest Arkansas' cuisine is rathered influenced by Texas just as northwest Louisiana is?

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Nate let me ask you a somewhat offtopic question. I know you are familiar with southwest Arkansas. Do you think southwest Arkansas' cuisine is rathered influenced by Texas just as northwest Louisiana is?

Oh definately. Even thought the capital of the Ark-La-Tex is located in Louisiana, Texas heavily influences the area, more so than the other two. The area where my family is from basically used to be part of Texas, and you can really tell when driving around parts of SW Arkansas that your not far at all from Texas. To me, driving around SW Arkansas and SE Ohlahoma, you can see that Texas is the "big dog" in the area. It just has alot of that "Texas feel." You dont see it as much in Louisiana, IMO, because of Shreveport-Bossier City and all of the activity that it brings from the area, and because of S-BC most people in NW Louisiana dont need to go into Texas to get certain things done, as many need to do in Arkansas or Oklahoma.

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