Gumbo is a very thick soup, almost a stew, that can be attributed to the Creole kitchen (it has also been called "Cajun" but I'll let them experts fight that one out).

Gumbo likely began when French settlers in Louisiana made their native bouillabaisse, substituting ingredients that were available to them locally. As settlers from different countries arrived in Louisiana and added their influences, bouillabaisse gradually evolved into gumbo. The name "gumbo" is derived from the African word "quingombo," which refers to okra, one of the primary ingredients in a proper gumbo.

The base for gumbo is a dark roux made from a 1:1 ratio of flour and oil. The roux acts as a thickener. Okra is also added, and is what thickens the gumbo. However, when okra is not in season, cooks use only the dark roux. File powder or gumbo file, made from sassafras, was used at one time as a thickener as well, but is not as common today. If there is okra in the gumbo, however, it is absolute sacrilege to add file powder.

Once the roux has darkened, cooks add the Holy Trinity (chopped bell pepper, celery, and onion) and stock made from whatever ingredients will be in the final gumbo - chicken, sausage, or shellfish. The meats are added and the gumbo is simmered on the stove top until the meats are cooked through.

Though gumbo is sometimes considered a thick soup, some gumbo purists argue that it must be ladled over plain white rice.

I had my fill of gumbo at restaurants over the weekend, so I'll leave the home-cooking up to you:

• Gumbo z'Herbes (Gumbo made from all green vegetables)
• Gumbo File with Crab from Gourmet
• New Orleans Chef Leah Chase's Creole Gumbo
• Gumbo Ya Ya from Emeril Lagasse

As Mardi Gras approaches, and many people might be entertaining over the weekend with menus inspired by New Orleans, let's take a look at the two cuisines that many people mistakenly interchange: Cajun and Creole. The two are similar, which accounts for the confusion, sharing some similar ingredients like file powder, a version of mirepoix made of onions, bell peppers, and celery, and each even having their own versions of jambalaya, gumbo, and  etouffe. Yet, the cuisines are different.

Cajun is the cuisine of French Acadians who were forced out of Nova Scotia in the mid 1700s and eventually settled in Louisiana. The word "Acadian" was transmuted into "Cajun" (say them both out loud and you'll hear). 

The cuisine is a fusion of French and Southern cooking. The recipes use simple, local ingredients, and are considered somewhat "rustic."  The base for many of the soups and stews is a dark roux made from flour and pork fat. There is a popular misconception that Cajun food is ragin' spicy, but though Cajun cooks use a heavy hand with spices such as cayenne and black peppers, the food is meant to have a balanced, not overpowering, heat. Another misconception is that Cajun cuisine includes "blackened" fish and chicken, but most foods prepared in traditional Cajun home and restaurants don't do this.

Cajun cuisine encompasses dirty rice, skillet cornbread, crawfish and other crustaceans boiled with cayenne and salt, a lot of catfish, use of pork in the form of andouille, boudin and chaurice (similar to chorizo) sausages, Tasso ham, gumbo, jambalaya, and etouffe.

Cajun sweets include beignets and pralines.