If New Orleans was a plate of food, that food would be gumbo, thick with okra, andouille sausage, and your choice of seafood. The roux is French, the smoky sausage is Cajun, the okra is West African, and the philosophical discourse over the acceptable content of Gumbo’s flavor profile, incessant. Shapeshifting and historically resonant, amazing food is a way of life in New Orleans, grown up from a checkered past.

The bubbling gumbo that is modern New Orleans took a very long time to make. The result is an almost surreal food culture that features traditions from all around the world. Food grown up here is sublime, with dishes unseen anywhere else except as pallid facsimiles. Let’s look at some of the foods New Orleans is known for and what’s so special about them.

1. Red Beans and Rice

Red beans and rice is part of the warp and weft of what constitutes a Monday in NOLA. This is a food of such great renown, it’s beloved in New Orleans well beyond Monday night dinner. But what’s so special to New Orleanians about this simple dish?

Monday was once NOLA’s accepted laundry day and laundry achieved without modern conveniences was an all-day affair. Red beans and rice was an easy-to-prepare dish, offering a satisfying meal, more so with a hunk of sausage thrown in for flavor! Many New Orleanians still hold this culinary tradition sacred. Finding its humble place among the foods New Orleans is best known for, red beans and rice is what New Orleanians enjoy as a sentimental favorite.

2. Shrimp Clemenceau

Shrimp Clemenceau has a proud history, largely unknown outside the Crescent City. There was a time when this Creole dish was available only to some people in NOLA’s eateries. The owner of Dooky Chase Restaurant didn’t think that was quite right, so Shrimp Clemenceau suddenly appeared on this neighborhood haunt’s menu. With this one act, Dooky Chase changed the game, defiantly broadening the definition of who was able to enjoy great food in New Orleans.

And while you’ll read a lot of “Bam!” about NOLA chefs, you won’t read much about Chef Leah Chase (1923-2019), the acknowledged Queen of Creole Cuisine. Her sumptuous Shrimp Clemenceau continues to be sought out by tourists and locals alike at Dooky Chase, fragrant with its liberal use of butter and the juicy shrimp sauteed in it. While it may not be one the foods New Orleans is best known for, it’s what many come to the Big Easy to experience, without even knowing it.

3. Gumbo: The Spirit of New Orleans

The word “gumbo” originates in West Africa and means “okra”. But as I said right from the beginning, Gumbo is a fine combination of disparate elements, including Native American influences. That’s the whole truth about this great food in the New Orleans culinary tradition, so evocative of the city’s character and history.

And Gumbo is the subject of epic disagreements concerning ingredients. The “thickened with okra” camp tends to lead but the “thickened with filé” camp can’t be ignored. Ground sassafras has passionate proponents, especially among Louisiana Cajuns! Let’s just say that Gumbo being a food that New Orleans is not only known for but is spiritually identified with, is what should guide the discussion. I won’t even discuss the roux controversy here!

The only way to settle the conversation is to try them all.

4. Beignets and Chicory Coffee

Beignets with chicory coffee are a great New Orleans food tradition that must be savored at least once in your life. Hailing from France, beignets are made from light choux pastry. Deep-fried, then dusted generously with confectioner’s sugar, these delights are best served warm with a hot cup of chicory coffee.

It was the French who decided that cutting coffee with chicory was a good idea. The habit was adopted in New Orleans during the Civil War to extend a coffee supply, hampered by the northern blockade. To this day, chicory coffee is still served and enjoyed by native New Orleanians as a local tradition. What’s incredible is that New Orleans is so well known for its beignets, that the Cafe du Monde serves more than 30,000 orders of this sweet food every day.

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