Jambalaya. Photo: madaise, Flickr

Red Lobster this summer became the latest fast-casual chain to dip into the bayou for a promotional menu item, reflecting a mainstreaming of Louisiana flavors many experts attribute to the continuing diasporas of chefs displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Red Lobster, which has introduced many American landlubbers to seafood through its 600-plus locations, recently debuted a "New Orleans jambalaya," made with shrimp, sausage and "Creole seasonings." Earlier this year, O'Charley's tested a Cajun-spiced shrimp salad, while Chili's tried to lure customers by slashing the price of its Cajun chicken pasta. And Uno Chicago Grill set its sights south with a NOLA-beholden menu featuring a shrimp po' boy, bananas Foster and an andouille-sausage flatbread.

"Cajun-Creole is one of the most important regional cuisines in America, and more and more people are more educated about it than they've ever been," says Randy Cheramie, associate dean at Nicholls State University's John Folse Culinary Institute in Thibodaux, La.

Is this Arkansan cuisine? Photo: Flickr / patrickwoodward

Arkansas has produced the world's largest spinach can, superior pink tomatoes and lauded bottled water, but its cooks have generated far less press than their counterparts in neighboring Southern states.

New Orleans' Southern Food and Beverage Museum is aiming to elevate the status of Arkansan eats with an upcoming exhibit devoted to the state's culinary traditions. As collections manager Chris Smith has discovered, however, Arkansas residents' edible habits aren't easily summarized.

"Arkansas is one of those states where the Northwest is different than the Southeast, and the Northeast is different than the Southwest," Smith says. "I don't think it has as much fried food as Louisiana, and I don't think it's as Mexican as Texas."

Smith is working to define Arkansas cuisine by relying largely on a massive collection of books submitted by sympathetic cooks after Hurricane Katrina destroyed a chunk of the museum's holdings.

In this month's issue of GQ magazine, food guru Alan Richman took a glossy, 8-page look at the food of New Orleans post-Katrina. The idea sounds like a good one, so why is the article so controversial? The problem is that the piece was not gushing, not exactly sentimental and, in parts, not accurate about the city and its food.

To date, the vast majority of the pieces about New Orleans have been stories of survival and of working to restore the city to its former state. People rebuild their homes and lives. Restaurants struggle to clean up, reopen and attract customers. Richman writes some about the touching, uplifting parts and the grassroots movements of people to get their lives back in order, but does not write exclusively about the uplifting parts, in fact stating that "New Orleans shouldn't exist," referring to it below-sea level elevation right on a vulnerable coastline. In another controversial assertion, he says that Cajuns originated in Canada, which is true, contrary to what some of his critics have said. However, Richman also states that he doesn't think Creoles ever really existed, but the term applied to a definite and large group of people in the city. He explains his position in the GQ podcast, by the way.

Wow.

It has taken a long time to rebuild, but the point is that they have done it, and still are. After the devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina, one of New Orleans' landmarks, The Commander's Palace, on the corner of Coliseum and Washington off of St. Charles in New Orleans' upscale Garden District, will be re-opening this weekend. Sunday, October 1 will be service of their first brunch since being hit by Katrina in August of last year.

[via: Blogging New Orleans]