I don't know much about Cajun life, not really, but I know that I really like the feeling of the swamps when I'm there, and I love to hear the melodic lilt of the Cajun patois, but mostly I absolutely L-O-V-E the food (how could it be possible not to when there are things like jambalaya, gumbo, turtle sauce piquante, andouille sausage, boudin, cochon du lait, crawfish etouffee (ANYTHING etoufee), crawfish bisque, crawfish pie (or ANYTHING crawfish). Cajun cooking, it is said, is a first cousin to Creole cooking.

History in a nutshell The Canadian province of Acadia (Nova Scotia and surrounding areas) was settled in the early 1700s by French colonists, but the area became a British possession soon afterwards & the British demanded the Acadians renounce their Roman Catholic faith and swear allegiance to the Crown (some things never change, eh?). Being a people of "la grande chutzpah," the Acadians refused and found Louisiana! (Read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Evangeline.") It wasn't that easy, of course (but what ever is?) & the migration of the French Acadians to Louisiana was rocked with turmoil. Some wandered for 20 years before falling into the open arms of the predominantly French territory of Louisiana.

Tidbits in another nutshell "Cajun" is a corruption of the original French pronunciation of Acadian--A-ca-jan). The Cajun principal city, Lafayette, is the unofficial capital of "Acadiana." Cajun music, like the food, is another aspect totally taken from Cajun life. It can be lively or sad or both. Like the spoken language of the Cajuns, song lyrics are part French, part English.