The Story of the Cajuns Part 1

This will be a " to be continued" story about the lifestyle of Cajuns in LA..hope you enjoy the history lesson!
In other parts of the world, little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, while little boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails.. Little Cajun children, on the other hand are made of gumbo, boudin, sauce piquante,and crawfish stew! This was taken from an essay called "What is a Cajun?" This points up a truism about the Acadian people of South Louisiana: Food is more than sustenance, it is a keystone of the Cajun Lifestyle.
The history of the unique dishes served at the Cajun dinner table is a vital part of the overall history of the Cajuns. The culinary traditions were born in times when these unusual people battled hardships of epic proportion! Reflected in the traditions and recipes is the remarkable spirt and coping ability of a people who lived through years of brutal persecution and overpowering misery. For the most part the classic Cajun dishes were developed by people who were poor in material goods, and had to feed large families (12 children in a family was NOT unusual) with whatever the fertile but harsh land produced. They gathered what was available in their isolated world of dense forests, swamps, coastal marshes and undeveloped prairies, and with a culinary magic that is theirs alone, transformed these simple ingredients into gourmet delights.
This was taken from a book called Tell me More, a cookbook spiced with Cajun Traditions and Food memories)