Highlights

• Paul Prudhomme's 1980s "blackened" technique made people think all Cajun food is fiery hot, but blackening isn't traditional Louisiana cooking
• Beignets came from 16th-century France via French colonists, not Louisiana - they were called "French Market doughnuts" until 1958
• Fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits, and country ham are broader Southern foods, not specifically Louisiana creations
• Boiled crawfish only became popular in Louisiana in the 1950s - before that, Acadians used crawfish as bait, not food
• Generic "Cajun seasoning" and anything called "Cajun" outside Louisiana often bears little resemblance to authentic Louisiana cooking

Foods Other States Think Are Louisiana (But Definitely Aren't)

Louisiana's food culture runs deep enough without claiming every fried dish in the South.

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — Every time I travel outside Louisiana, I see "Louisiana-style" and "Cajun" slapped on menus like magic words. Restaurants serve blackened everything, tourists visit expecting our grandmothers invented fried chicken, and grocery stores stock "Cajun seasoning" that tastes nothing like what we actually cook with.

It's mostly just overcooked food with too much cayenne.

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Some foods people think belong to Louisiana came from somewhere else entirely. Others belong to the broader South. That doesn't make them less delicious, but it makes for some needed truth-telling about how food myths spread.

The "Blackened Everything" Myth Paul Prudhomme Never Intended

Chef Paul Prudhomme invented blackened redfish in March 1980 at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. Food historians confirm blackening "was not from the canon of Cajun cooking, but a technique Chef Paul made up."

Prudhomme later regretted how people interpreted his creation. He told reporters he was "at least partly to blame that so many people think all Cajun food is red-hot and spicy." He'd watch people dump red pepper on food and feel like crying.

The technique became so popular it nearly drove redfish to extinction in the Gulf of Mexico. Commercial fishing restrictions were implemented, and K-Paul's limited customers to one blackened redfish order per table. By then, restaurants nationwide were blackening everything and calling it "Cajun."

Traditional Louisiana cooking builds flavor through proper roux technique, the Holy Trinity of vegetables, and understanding how proteins absorb spices. When someone outside Louisiana blackens salmon and calls it "Cajun-style," they're missing 300 years of actual culinary development.

Beignets: France's Gift to New Orleans, Not the Other Way Around

Food historians trace beignets to 16th-century France. Deep-frying yeast dough dates to at least the Middle Ages. Some experts connect them to ancient Rome's "scriblita" - fried dough cooked in animal fat.

French colonists and Acadians brought beignets to New Orleans in the 18th century. For most of their New Orleans history, locals called them "French Market doughnuts." They weren't rebranded as "beignets" until 1958, when Café du Monde thought the French name sounded more cultural.

Louisiana's contribution was making them square instead of round, serving them exclusively with powdered sugar, and pairing them with chicory coffee. We perfected the presentation and cultural context, not the pastry itself.

Southern Foods That Belong to Everyone

Fried Chicken: Not Our Bird

Fried chicken appears across Southern food traditions, with roots in Scottish and African cooking techniques. Scottish immigrants brought methods of frying chicken in fat. Enslaved Africans contributed seasoning techniques and flavor profiles.

The technique likely developed simultaneously across multiple Southern regions as cultural groups adapted their methods to available ingredients. Louisiana has excellent fried chicken, but we can't claim invention any more than Kentucky or Georgia.

Buttermilk Biscuits: An English Import

English and Scottish settlers introduced biscuits to the Southern breakfast across the entire region. In England and Ireland, people ate biscuits with meals and during long sea voyages because they lasted longer than other breads.

Louisiana perfected our own version, often incorporating local ingredients like cane syrup. But the technique came with European settlers who spread throughout the South.

Country Ham: Virginia's Crown Jewel

Virginia and Kentucky have longer, more established traditions of curing hams in ways that create distinctive flavors. Louisiana's contribution to preserved pork centers on tasso and andouille, products reflecting our specific cultural blending.

The "Cajun Seasoning" Confusion That Spread Nationwide

Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends became so popular that grocery stores nationwide started stocking "Cajun" spice mixes. Most bear little resemblance to how people actually cook in Louisiana.

Real Creole cooking achieves seasoning "from scratch, even by taste." The flavor comes from understanding proper roux technique, cooking the trinity correctly, and knowing how proteins absorb spices over time.

READ MORE: Top Cajun and Creole Dishes Everyone Should Try in Louisiana

Many non-Louisiana "Cajun" restaurants serve dishes of "dubious Louisiana origin" because they rely on commercial seasonings instead of understanding actual techniques.

Foods Louisiana Actually Didn't Invent

Crawfish Boils: A Recent Louisiana Tradition

Crawfish boils only became popular in Louisiana during the 1950s. Before that, Acadians typically used crawfish as bait. Indigenous people ate crawfish long before Europeans arrived, but newcomers weren't interested.

By the 1880s, people ate crawfish during Lent, but it was considered poor man's food. The modern tradition started when Breaux Bridge restaurants began serving crawfish étouffée in the 1950s.

Turducken: Prudhomme's Questionable Creation

While Paul Prudhomme often gets credit for inventing turducken, food historians say "the jury's still out" on whether he actually created it. The dish appears in various forms across different cultures.

Prudhomme popularized it and made it a Louisiana specialty, but claiming he invented it might overstate the historical record.

What Louisiana Actually Did Give the World

Gumbo: Our True Masterpiece

Gumbo represents a unique blending of African, Native American, French, and Spanish cooking techniques that could only have happened here. The African contribution of okra, Native American filé powder from sassafras leaves, and French roux technique created something genuinely new.

The word "gumbo" comes from the West African word for okra, "nkombo," showing how different cultures contributed ingredients and language to create this dish.

The Holy Trinity: Louisiana's Answer to French Mirepoix

We gave the culinary world the "Holy Trinity" - onions, celery, and bell peppers that form the base of Louisiana cooking. This is our answer to French mirepoix (onions, carrots, celery), adapted to ingredients that grow well here and suit our flavor preferences.

Authentic Creole Cuisine: True Cultural Blending

Louisiana's real contribution shows how different cultural groups can blend cooking traditions to create something new while honoring original sources. Creole cuisine represents centuries of French, Spanish, African, Caribbean, Native American, and later Italian and German influences coming together.

This isn't modern fusion cooking - it's the result of different communities living and cooking together over generations, sharing techniques and ingredients out of necessity.

Regional Specialties That Are Authentically Ours

Boudin, with its combination of rice, pork, and spices in sausage casing, is genuinely Louisiana. So is andouille sausage as we make it, crawfish étouffée prepared with proper blonde roux, and our specific methods of preparing seafood using Gulf Coast ingredients.

These dishes reflect our geography, available ingredients, and cultural blending in ways that can't be replicated elsewhere.

The next time someone mentions their "authentic Louisiana food" restaurant in Ohio, or claims beignets were invented in New Orleans, you'll know the actual story. And when someone asks what Louisiana actually gave American cuisine, you can tell them about gumbo, the Holy Trinity, and the art of cultural blending that created something genuinely new while honoring what came before.

There are some food brands that we are directly responsible for introducing to the world, too. Here's a list of some you may not realize.