If you’re planning to visit Lafayette, Louisiana, a city bursting with unique cultural attributes from Cajun to Creole and beyond, here’s a primer on how to act like a native. Or at least how not to get things wrong as a tourist. Because Lafayette, as well as the state of Louisiana, doesn’t fit into any typical American category.
I’m a New Orleans native, but I had the pleasure of spending almost two decades in Lafayette. First, I worked for the daily newspaper, then branching out as a freelance journalist, writing almost exclusively about the South.
How Do You Say Lafayette?
Pronouncing the city’s name is the first determination of whether a person is a tourist or resident.
Lafayette honors the French Marquis de Lafayette, friend to George Washington and a hero of the American Revolution. His name is pronounced “La-fi-ette” but natives of the Louisiana city call home “Laffy-ette.” You would think a city settled by French immigrants would pronounce it correctly, but there you go.
At least it’s slightly more correct than some Southern pronunciations of “La FAE-ette.”
And by the way, always say New Or-lee-ahns, not New Or-leens.
Cajun vs. Creole
This distinction is one of the most baffling to visitors. It all started when a group of French pioneers settled in what is now the far-Eastern Maritimes region of Canada and called their land Acadie, or Acadia. These residents became known as “Acadians.”
They lived peacefully with the neighboring Indians and rarely participated in the wars between England and France. However, when the British conquered the area in the mid-18th century, they rounded up the “French Neutrals” and deported them.
Beginning in 1755, the Acadians were scattered throughout the 13 American colonies, France, England, the Caribbean, and the Falkland Islands in what became one of the New World’s most horrific diasporas.
Louisiana was under Spanish rule at the time and eager to receive more Catholic settlers to boost the territory’s population. Most residents still spoke French, and they welcomed the Acadian refugees.
These Acadians—their name shortened to “Cadiens”—settled in the countryside of South Louisiana. When Americans purchased the Louisiana colony in 1803, they heard them call each other “Cadjens,” so they referred to them as “Cajuns.”
Today, almost a million of their descendants, now known as Cajuns, live in South Louisiana. The 22 parishes that make up South Louisiana outside of New Orleans are called “Acadiana.”
And now, the Creoles
During the early years of the colony, enslaved Africans and Free People of Color also made Acadiana home. In Lafayette and the surrounding region, these descendants are known as Creoles.
But here’s where it gets tricky. Webster’s Dictionary states “Creole” is “a person of European descent born in the colonies” or “a white person descended from early French or Spanish settlers of the U.S Gulf states.” Other definitions include “a person of mixed French or Spanish and black descent speaking a dialect of French or Spanish.”
In New Orleans, Creole may be a person of African and European heritage or a blend of Spanish and French cultures. In other words, white and Black residents. Creole cuisine in New Orleans refers to all the city’s influences on cooking.
In Acadiana, Creole refers only to those with African ancestry. Creole music, for instance, is the forerunner of zydeco. An annual festival happening during the fall honors both Cajun and zydeco music as Festivals Acadiens et Creole.
Speaking Lafayette
Here are a few words and expressions you’ll hear spoken in Lafayette and other French regions of Louisiana:
Boudin (Boo dan): Cajun sausage consisting of pork, rice and seasoning
Ça c’est bon (Sa say boh(n)): That’s good. Often heard after enjoying a great meal
Ça va (Sa va): How are you?
Chèr [sha]: A term of endearment, but don’t confuse this spelling with a singer who used to team up with a man named Sonny.
Mais garde des donc (may gard day doh(n)): “Well, look at that!”
Fais-do-do (fay-dough-dough): A Cajun dance. It derives from Cajun house dances where parents put the children to sleep and then danced the night away.
Laissez les bons temps roulez (lazy lay boh(n) toh(n) rool-ay): Literally means “Let the good times roll.”
Lagniappe (lan yap): A little something extra. Oriented in New Orleans.
Pass By or Pass On: To visit someone or someplace
How’s ya mama-em-dem: Self-explanatory
Want to learn more South Louisiana lingo? Visit this site.
South Louisiana Foodways, or Cajun vs. Creole Again
“Cajun cooking is the rustic cousin to Creole cuisine,” explains Chef Pat Mould, a South Louisiana cookbook author. “Cajun cooking is more hearty one-pot dishes based on country cooking, while Creole is a more sophisticated style of cooking based on the classic European way of preparing food with French, Spanish, Italian, and African influences.”
What unites them are the ingredients: “Gulf seafood, wild game, spicy peppers, onions, celery and bell pepper key ingredients along with dark roux, smoked sausages and freshwater crawfish,” Mould said.
Photo courtesy of Denny Culbert and Lafayette Travel
The Tomato Issue
Just don’t ask for tomatoes in your gumbo if you’re in Acadiana.
Many believed tomatoes were introduced to New Orleans gumbo by Sicilian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cajun country, specifically the Lafayette area, despises tomatoes in their gumbo. They prefer a dark roux chicken and sausage variety.
“My opinion only, but for me, the major difference is the roux—for Cajuns, that wonderful dark browning of flour in vegetable oil, the basis for Cajun dishes, gumbo, sauce piquante, stews,” culinary teacher Janice Macomber explained to me. She grew up in Vermilion Parish outside Lafayette. “Creole cooking, a la New Orleans, for me, means dishes with more butter, meniere, or cream sauces. And they do like to use tomatoes!”
It’s all part of a big melting pot. The Spanish introduced rice and spice, the African and German residents okra and sausage-making techniques, and the French introduced sauces and roux.
Talking About Food Around Lafayette
Back to that local speaking guide: “Dressed” is a way to make po’boy or other sandwiches. “Do you want your shrimp po’boy dressed?” is what restaurants will ask, meaning, “Do you want lettuce, tomato, or other additions?”
The “Holy Trinity” consists of celery, onions, and peppers, the basics of much of Cajun and Creole cuisine. The “Four Seasons” is the Holy Trinity plus garlic.
Eating Lafayette
Some dishes not to be missed:
- boudin sausage
- fricassées or smothered meat over rice
- crawfish étouffée (A-two-fay)
- sauce piquant
- rice dressing
- all types of fresh seafood boiled, fried, and otherwise
For something unique, check out a drive-through daiquiri shop.
Crawfish & Gators
Crawfish is king in southwest Louisiana, a crustacean grown in the rice fields and swamps. We eat our weight in crawfish when they emerge from their mud burrows in the late winter and spring.
The state’s official crustacean is not a mudbug. It is not a “crayfish.” It is a “crawfish.” Do not spell or pronounce it otherwise. The faux pas of saying “crayfish” is up there with the pronunciation of New Orleens!
As for our other favorite bayou resident, the region teems with alligators. They do grow big and scary, but most are more frightened of you than the other way around.
To see gators in the wild, swamp tours will get you on the water at the Honey Island Swamp and St. James Parish outside of New Orleans, the Houma and Thibodaux area, and the Atchafalaya Basin and Lake Martin near Lafayette. The Creole Nature Trail near Lake Charles features 180 miles of wild marshes and beaches. Naturally, gators are plentiful.
Mardi Gras & Festivals
The Carnival season begins January 6, known as King’s Day, Twelfth Night, or the Epiphany, the day the Magi greeted the Christ child in Bethlehem with gifts.
Balls, parades, parties with King Cakes, and other merriment fill the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. That final Tuesday blowout is the day we live it up before we give it up.
In the cities, social organizations known as krewes parade around a theme, create elaborate costumes, and choose royalty such as kings and queens. In Lafayette, there are numerous parades.
Only in Cajun Country do residents celebrate the ancient Carnival tradition of Les Couriers de Mardi Gras. Costumed men and women on horseback travel the countryside to beg residents for ingredients for a gumbo, usually with a musical band and onlookers following behind. Once they arrive in town, a communal gumbo is cooked and enjoyed.
Annual Lafayette festivals include Festival International de Louisiane, held the last weekend in April, and Festivals Acadiens et Creoles in October, both free to attend.
And Finally: We Are Not New Orleans
New Orleans offers its own unique history, culture, lingo, and foodways. There are numerous differences between the city of New Orleans and Acadiana. So, when you visit Lafayette, focus on the local culture of Acadiana and leave the Crescent City for another visit.
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Cheré Dastugue Coen blogs about Southern culture at Weird, Wacky, and Wild South.
