From the agrarian north to its Cajun south and beguiling New Orleans, the state offers a mix of cultures, geographies and culinary delights.
By GAY N. MARTIN
Published April 18, 2004
[Photos: Gay N. Martin]
The Romero Brothers, who know enough songs in French to play all day long, often perform for visitors near the legendary Evangeline Oak in St. Martinville.
Spectators yell for beads as a float passes in Alexandria’s Mardi Gras parade for children.
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of our young nation. Here is the 11th in a series of articles reporting, state by state, what the Louisiana Purchase represents today.
Louisiana, a state like no other, captured my heart about four decades ago. The love affair shows no signs of cooling down.
In the late '80s, when I started in-depth research for a guidebook on Louisiana, the state's welcome centers dispensed tourism literature bags touting "Louisiana - as American as crawfish pie." Other slogans have come and gone, but that best suggests the state's uniqueness.
Cultural distinctions jump out each time you encounter a word that appears unpronounceable at first (e.g., Zwolle, a small town near Toledo Bend on the state's western border, rhymes with tamale).
A list of how Louisiana differs from other states could start with its legal system. As Stanley reminds Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, "We have something in Louisiana called the Napoleonic Code" - a reference to the French settlers who were here when the young United States bought the land in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
And consider the political dynasty of the Long family of the 20th century, or the cast of colorful characters associated with other regimes.
Louisiana dishes up diversity at every turn. Nowhere else in this country, for instance, do you find parishes instead of counties - a carryover from the original divisions of the land drawn by the Roman Catholic Church.
What other state could possibly serve as a setting for Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood?
Where else would you see an official portrait of a governor with Blue Dog? Honest: Blue Dog shares the canvas with Louisiana's recently elected Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.
And who's Blue Dog, you ask? Internationally acclaimed Cajun artist George Rodrigue conjured up Blue Dog in 1984, and the image grew to pop-icon status. A retrospective exhibition titled "Cajuns, Blue Dogs, and Hurricanes: The Art of George Rodrigue" opened earlier this year in Shreveport. Check www.georgerodrigue.com for details.
Louisiana's culture and geography both qualify as different, if not unique. Natives tend to divide their boot-shaped state simply: There is North Louisiana and South Louisiana, with New Orleans as its own entity. North and South merge in Alexandria, at what might be called the Crossroads.
In the northeastern corner of the state, you drive through flat farmland past pecan groves, pastures of grazing cattle and fields of soybeans, cotton, rice and wheat.
If you fly over this area during winter, when the ground is not camouflaged by foliage, you can see the outline of a great bird with a wingspan of 640 feet. Built an estimated 3,000 years ago, this bird mound required not only tedious labor but a high degree of engineering expertise. Now known as Poverty Point State Historic Site, the area is considered by some researchers to be as archaeologically significant as England's Stonehenge - and only 1 percent of the mound has been excavated.
Continuing west across the top of the "boot" takes you through Monroe and fertile river bottomland with a cotton-rich history. Then it's on to Ruston, in the heart of peach country, and into Bienville Parish, where the careers of Depression-era gangsters Bonnie and Clyde came to a bullet-riddled halt.
In the state's northwestern corner is its second-largest city, Shreveport. The city is an amalgam of Deep South and Wild West. Shreveport and Bossier City, farther south, serve as the hub for a 200-mile area that notes the proximity of three states and goes by the ungainly nickname of Ark-La-Tex.
The Cajun connection
Some general observations: North Louisiana's culture and topography resemble those of surrounding states Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. This area is primarily Protestant.
In contrast, South Louisiana's inhabitants are predominantly Catholic, having descended from the French Acadians. Longfellow's narrative poem Evangeline immortalizes the story of their harsh 1755 exile from Canada and subsequent search for a new home.
Many Acadian (the name compressed to "Cajun" over time) families were separated and eventually settled in Louisiana's marshes, bayous and bottomland.
Known for their joie de vivre, or joy of life, Cajuns treasure their ancestry and many still speak the Cajun-French dialect. Driving through Acadiana, you can tune to local radio stations and hear those unique voices and special music. Sometimes the news is broadcast in French, sometimes in English.
A visit to Cajun country practically guarantees good times, great music and incredible food. Lafayette, French Louisiana's unofficial capital, features attractions such as historic homes, living-history museums, lush gardens, swamps and salt domes like Avery Island, where they brew the famed and fiery Tabasco Sauce. (A salt dome is the tip of a huge mountain of salt forced to the surface from deep within the Earth. The salt used in making Tabasco Sauce is mined in tunnels beneath the island.)
Charming St. Martinville, once a haven for aristocrats escaping the French Revolution, showcases Evangeline country. In a park setting of moss-draped oaks, the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site interprets the history of French-speaking cultures with its restored, Creole cottage from 1815 and furnishings typical of those used by the region's European settlers. The town's historic district includes St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church, mother church of the Acadians, and nearby, a bronze statue of Evangeline.
A short stroll away, the Acadian Memorial pays tribute to those who came to Louisiana during the 1760s after being banished from their Canadian homeland. A mural portrays their arrival, and in several cases, direct descendants posed for this group portrait.
As for that "crawfish pie" in the state tourism slogan, think etouffee - an item "smothered" in a sauce - in a plain pastry shell. Basically, the crawfish is combined with spices, a roux (flour, browned in a fat or oil, used to thicken a sauce) and a vegetable mixture including the state's culinary "holy trinity" of chopped green peppers, onions and celery. This is all baked in a crust just as you would an apple pie.
Chef Cynthia Breaux, at Cafe des Amis in Breaux Bridge, puts her own scrumptious spin on this dish by serving it in puff pastry.
From jazz to jambalaya
Louisiana's 4.5-million residents offer a richer ethnic mix beyond the Cajuns. There is the Scotch-Irish-English background common to many white Southerners. And there are also African-Americans, Hispanics and American Indians, and smaller numbers of people who trace their heritage to Vietnam, Germany, Lebanon or Hungary. All add to the state's cultural gumbo, which is nowhere more obvious than in famed New Orleans.
This beguiling city offers nonstop nightlife and renowned restaurants. The music scene ranges from blues, Cajun and country to swamp rock, pop and zydeco, but it probably is the food that visitors most remember.
Ella Brennan, a member of the renowned New Orleans family of restaurateurs, once said, "In some places, they eat to live - in our town, we live to eat."
While seafood is featured on most menus, there has been a proliferation of Cajun restaurants beyond state borders. Basically French country cooking, Cajun cuisine uses fresh local ingredients, especially rice, peppers, herbs, game and the ubiquitous crawfish. Aquaculture - mainly the raising of crawfish and catfish in shallow ponds - is a significant role in Acadiana's economy.
Louisiana's innovative chefs may tempt you with pan-seared foie gras, crab and sweet corn bisque, etouffee, jambalaya, soft-shelled crab in sherry sauce, shrimp and artichoke salad, oysters (plain or in sublime sauces), pompano en papillote, smoked salmon with tasso and classic creme brulee.
Fish comes broiled, baked, boiled, blackened, steamed and fried, as well as in concoctions of gumbo, crepes, bisque and other ways. Variations on these dishes depend on whether the chef favors Acadian, Creole, haute French or home-cooked Southern style.
Swamps and plantations
Nothing says Louisiana like a swamp outing. One of the largest and last great river-basin swamps, the Atchafalaya (pronounced a-CHOFF-a-lie-a) is a primal world populated by beavers, nutria, muskrats, minks, osprey, ducks, turkeys, egrets, herons, ibis, cormorants, otter, turtles and alligators.
Cruising the bayou with a backdrop of cypress trees overhung with Spanish moss is a great way to get acquainted with Cajun country's geography. Visitors can book a swamp excursion themed to nature lovers, birders or photographers.
Louisiana is also noted for an architectural medley of plantation homes. An unusual tour is offered about 45 miles from the state capital, Baton Rouge, at Laura, a Creole Plantation. Not the stereotypical white-columned mansion, this multicolored manor house dates to 1805 and sits on the west side of the Mississippi River near Vacherie.
The plantation is named for Laura Locoul, whose memoirs tell of a thriving sugar-production and wine-importation business managed for 84 years by women. The difficult lives of the slaves, many brought from Senegal, is recounted here.
More plantation life awaits just north of Baton Rouge in St. Francisville and the surrounding area. This region so intrigued artist-naturalist John James Audubon that he created more than 80 of the paintings in his Birds of America series while there.
Studded with lovely 18th and 19th century plantation homes, the region boasts a rich history with influences from Spain, England and France.
Not to be missed is Natchitoches NACK-a-tish, Louisiana's oldest settlement and the setting for the film Steel Magnolias. Here in Cane River country, you can sample sugar cane and meat pies, and dip into history at Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site, the Roque House and Melrose Plantation. (For more information, go to www.historicnatchitoches.com.) New Iberia takes its name from Europe's Iberian Peninsula. Only a half-hour from Lafayette, this town is home to another of the state's architectural gems, Shadows-on-the-Teche (tesh).
Freelance writer Gay Martin has just finished the seventh edition of "Louisiana Off the Beaten Path," published by the Globe Pequot Press.
On the Web
Readers can find all the articles in our series on the Louisiana Purchase, which ends in May, by going to the Web site www.sptimes.com/lapurchase There are links to the installments and interactive features.
DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT LOUISIANA?
THE TOP TWO ANNUAL FESTIVALS
Louisianians love festivals, and practically anything will do for a celebration: opossums, peaches, pecans, poke salad, pirates, sweet potatoes, frogs, garlic, catfish, crawfish . . . Mardi Gras, which occurs in the late winter, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (known simply as Jazz Fest; this year it runs from Thursday through May 2) make the cut as the top festivals. Although New Orleans hosts the world's largest Mardi Gras celebration, many family-oriented versions take place throughout the state. For more information on both of these events, log on to the state's tourism Web site at www.louisianatravel.com.
THE BEST LEGEND -- TRUE OR NOT
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline symbolizes all of Acadiana. This epic poem tells the sad story of Acadians who were forced to leave their Canadian homes and property in 1755. Families were broken up and sent to various destinations. Many eventually made their way to South Louisiana and came to be called "Cajuns." Local lore differs from Longfellow's tale, but both accounts portray the heartbreak of forced exodus.
THREE MUST-SEE PLACES
New Orleans, for its high concentration of museums, nightlife, different styles of architecture and world-class restaurants. Don't miss the French Quarter, Jackson Square and the Cabildo, where the Louisiana Purchase territory was transferred first from Spain to France and then from France to the United States. For more information, go to www.neworleansonline.com.
The Mississippi River, which Mark Twain described as "not a commonplace river . . . but is in all ways remarkable." To experience its majesty firsthand, sign up for a riverboat cruise, with stops at some of the state's handsome plantation homes. The leader in paddle-wheel cruising is the Delta Queen Steamboat Co. with three authentic vessels; www.deltaqueen.com.
Cajun country, which comprises nearly one-third of the state's 64 parishes. Lafayette makes a good base for exploring southwest Louisiana, where towns such as Breaux Bridge and Lake Charles are rich in Cajun and Creole heritage. Also, the natural beauty and wildlife in this part of the state are inspirational. Go to www.lafayettetravel.com.
THREE PLACES TO AVOID
The stretch of road lined with chemical plants between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
New Orleans' famous above-ground cemeteries -- the so-called "Cities of the Dead" -- unless you're in a group. Though fascinating, the cemeteries often harbor thieves who prey on tourists.
The entire state in August. Summer days here can be sweltering.
THE BEST PLACE TO TASTE REGIONAL COOKING
In New Orleans, for traditional Creole cuisine, it's Galatoire's. For more contemporary Creole food, try Dick & Jenny's, on Tchoupitoulas, or Brigtsen's, in the uptown Riverbend. In Cajun Country, don't miss Cafi des Amis in Breaux Bridge, known at the Crawfish Capital of the World. Other notable places include Black's Oyster Bar in Abbeville, Boudin King in Jennings, and Tunk's Cypress Inn near Alexandria.
A FAMOUS SON OR DAUGHTER
Jazz great Louis Armstrong .
A MAJOR PROBLEM RESIDENTS NOW FACE
Coastal erosion. It is not just about saving the coast and bayous because of their eerie beauty. It is preserving an ecosystem that dictated the early settlers' way of life. Without it, rice would not be the important crop it now is, nor would crawfish and alligator be staples.
THE BEST JOKE THAT LOCALS TELL ON THEMSELVES -- OR ON THE RIVAL STATE
Grandpa lies on his death bed. He smells the boiling pot of crawfish through an open window. He crawls out of bed and makes his labored way down the steps and into the yard. There, he sees crawfish piled high on the picnic table. He reaches up and manages to grab a couple. About that time, his wife slaps his wrist. "Leave those alone," she tells him. "They're for after the funeral."
[Last modified April 18, 2004, 07:36:37]
