Gumbo is derived from the African word for okra “Gombo”. The “kin gumbo” or okra plant is grown on the African soil and was certainly an early ingredient of the African people throughout the south. Okra has also been historically popular in French cookery and believed to have been introduced by the French colonist of Louisiana.

File’ powder was introduced by the Native Indians, the Choctaws, which is ground sassafras leaves and is used as a thickening agent. Many southerners never add file’ until just before you eat, never during cooking.

Germans arrived in Louisiana during the early 1700’s and added the knowledge of fine sausage making “boucherie” to people of South Louisiana. Sausage or andouille may contain pork, beef, chicken, or wild game and is a welcome ingredient to any gumbo.

The Cajuns brought the great knowledge of the “one pot meal” concept combining many items that produced a truly remarkable taste. Many of these dishes and gumbos were slow cooked in black iron pots. Poor and newly relocated to South Louisiana, these people used any ingredient available including the abundance of shellfish, seafood, and wild game indigenous to Louisiana.

The Creoles of Louisiana born of Spanish and French heritage, were well schooled in spices and sauces. Many generations of experience from these countries brought with them the fine art of slow cooking, and the melding of flavors commonly expected in all food from Louisiana.

Nothing depicts the palette of the Louisiana and New Orleans people better than gumbo. The state is mixed with the heritage of Native American, French, Spanish, English, African, German, Italian, and others. A Gumbo has the mixture of many ingredients, each with its roots from these cultures and consumed throughout Louisiana.