STIRRING THE POT

There is perhaps no dish considered more emblematic of Louisiana than gumbo.

Tell anyone you are from or visiting the state, and the next thing they say typically has something to do with gumbo. They might proclaim their favorite place to eat gumbo or explain why their grandmother’s recipe is better than yours—though you won’t believe them.

But gumbo comes in many varieties, as diverse as those who prepared it before us and those of us preparing it today. Each approach to the dish tends toward any combination of what may be considered proper ingredients, though opinions of what deems it a proper gumbo differ from region to region and person to person. Yet it manages to unite the historical and cultural influences of Louisiana: Western Africa, Indigenous America, and Western Europe.