Cajun Foodways or Sushi

Cajun Foodways

Author: C Paige Gutierrez

Cajun food has become a popular "ethnic" food throughout America during the last decade. This fascinating book explores the significance of Cajun cookery on its home turf in south Louisiana, a region marked by startling juxtapositions of the new and the old, the nationally standard and the locally unique. Neither a cookbook nor a restaurant guide, Cajun Foodways gives interpretation to the meaning of traditional Cajun food from the perspective of folklife studies and cultural anthropology. The author takes into account the modern regional popular culture in examining traditional foodways of the Cajuns. Based upon her meticulous field research, this book includes detailed descriptions of ingredients, dishes, cooking aesthetics, and events that center on Cajun food. The author describes and analyzes "crawfish boils" and other special Cajun food events and explains how foodways are enlisted in the expression of ethnic identity. As this study shows, Cajuns claim to be unusually food-oriented, unusually talented in preparing of foods, and unusual in their ability to enjoy food. Cajuns' attention to their own traditional foodways is more than merely nostalgia or a clever marketing ploy to lure tourists and sell local products. The symbolic power of Cajun food is deeply rooted in Cajuns' ethnic identity, especially their attachments to their natural environment and their love of being with people, both Cajuns and non-Cajuns. Foodways are an effective symbol for what it means to be a Cajun today. The reader interested in food and in cooking - Cajun or otherwise - will find much appeal in this book, for it illustrates a new way to think about how and why people eat as they do.

Publishers Weekly

This well-focused study of ``the relationship between Cajun food and Cajun ethnic identity'' reveals the still-strong link between Cajuns and their natural environment. Although this link is important for the preparation of all Cajun foods, like boudin and gumbo, it is epitomized in crawfish. In one chapter, ``The Meaning of Crawfish,'' Gutierrez shows how the outdoor ``crawfish boil'' of dozens of pounds of live crustaceans for family and friends validates the ``Cajuns' belief in their environmental competence.'' It also promotes a sense of unity among participants as they eat from a communal serving place. In addition, it demands intimacy between diners and their food, as they break open the crawfish body and either gnaw or suck on it for its meat, fats, and juices. As immigrants assimilated into American culture and the country moved away from an agrarian ideal, so the links between food, land and culture wore thin, leaving only vestiges like church-sponsored ham and oyster roasts or Maryland crab feasts. Like many ethnographic studies, this book captures the last or most distinctive representative of a once more common practice. As such, it is a useful, well-researched contribution to food and ethnic history. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Aug.)

Table of Contents:

	Foreword
	Preface
	Introduction: Louisiana's Cajuns	3
1	What Goes into Cajun Food	34
2	Cajun Cooking	51
3	Cooks and Kitchens	69
4	Cajuns and Crawfish	77
5	Catching, Cooking, and Eating Crawfish	83
6	The Meaning of Crawfish	96
7	Boucheries, Mardi Gras, and Community Festivals	110
8	Cajun Food and Ethnic Identity	121
	Bibliography	139
	Index	147

Book about: Desperation Entertaining or Pig Perfect

Sushi

Author: MIA Detrick

In Japanese cooking, the virtuosity of the chef is considered secondary to the quality and beauty of the ingredients themselves. It is a cuisine of presentation, not transformation, and much Japanese food is served uncooked, or nearly so, in small portions elegantly arranged to enhance its beauty. The epitome of this cuisine is sushi. Here is a beautifully illustrated guide to sushi-its variety, its origins, and the customs, etiquette, and repertoire of the American sushi bar. It includes instructions for making sushi at home, a word on its nutritional benefits, a Japanese lesson, and a wealth of information that will help you order the obscure as well as the obvious the next time you're at a sushi bar. This book will delight lovers of this unique cuisine, and it will be indispensable to those who have heard so much about sushi, but have not yet tried this dazzling food.